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Radioiodine Therapy of Thyroid Cancer

General Considerations — I

  • Chapter
Thyroid Cancer

Abstract

Differentiated thyroid cancer, when it has the ability to concentrate radioactive iodine, lends itself nicely to postthyroidectomy radioiodine therapy (Fig. 1). The term radioiodine therapy is used to designate the treatment of residual recurrent, or metastatic thyroid cancer (1–6). Radioiodine ablation, on the other hand, is used to describe the removal of noncancerous thyroid tissue, particularly that which is left after thyroidectomy. The distinction between these terms is frequently blurred, for when thyroid cancer has been diagnosed, and near-total thyroidectomy performed, one cannot assume that there is no residual cancer. Many thyroid cancers are multicentric (8–10). Others show evidence of extrathyroidal extension or capsular penetration. It may be prudent to consider that residual thyroid cancer is present (4) and that treatment is not complete until all vestiges of thyroid tissue are gone.

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Authors
  1. Gerald Johnston
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  2. Diane Sweeney
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC, USA

    Leonard Wartofsky MD, MPH, MACP (Chairman, Professor of Medicine and Physiology, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Georgetown, Howard) (Chairman, Professor of Medicine and Physiology, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Georgetown, Howard)

  2. Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USA

    Leonard Wartofsky MD, MPH, MACP (Chairman, Professor of Medicine and Physiology, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Georgetown, Howard) (Chairman, Professor of Medicine and Physiology, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Georgetown, Howard)

  3. George Washington University of Schools of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA

    Leonard Wartofsky MD, MPH, MACP (Chairman, Professor of Medicine and Physiology, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Georgetown, Howard) (Chairman, Professor of Medicine and Physiology, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Georgetown, Howard)

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© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Johnston, G., Sweeney, D. (2000). Radioiodine Therapy of Thyroid Cancer. In: Wartofsky, L. (eds) Thyroid Cancer. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-199-2_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-199-2_12

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-6845-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-199-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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