ReviewEndocrine2018
Routine thyroglobulin, neck ultrasound and physical examination in the routine follow up of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer-Where is the evidence?
Review in Endocrine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Long-term clinical outcomes of differentiated thyroid cancer patients with biochemical incomplete response after initial radioiodine therapy, a single-center, retrospective analysis.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Article
- Association of nasal irrigation with reduced nasal symptoms after radioiodine ablation in differentiated thyroid cancer: a retrospective cohort study with propensity score matching.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Article
- Clinical outcome and influencing factors of differentiated thyroid cancer with biochemical incomplete response.Future oncology (London, England) · 2025Article
- Thyroid Cancer Staging: Historical Evolution and Analysis From Macrocarcinoma to Microcarcinoma.Cureus · 2025Review
- Contribution of neck ultrasonography to patient management in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma with excellent response to therapy.Endocrine · 2025Article
- Article
- The diagnostic performance of neck ultrasound in follow-up of advanced stage differentiated thyroid cancer.Thyroid research · 2024Article
- Revision Thyroid Surgery.Indian journal of surgical oncology · 2022Review
- Can ultrasensitive thyroglobulin immunoassays avoid the need for ultrasound in thyroid cancer follow-up?Endocrine · 2022Article
- Serum Linkage-Specific Sialylation Changes Are Potential Biomarkers for Monitoring and Predicting the Recurrence of Papillary Thyroid Cancer Following Thyroidectomy.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Article
- [Clinical practice guidelines "Management of iodine deficiency disorders"].Problemy endokrinologii · 2021Article
- Ultrasonography surveillance in papillary thyroid carcinoma patients after total thyroidectomy according to dynamic risk stratification.Endocrine · 2020Article
- The role of neck ultrasound in the follow-up of low- and intermediate- risk papillary thyroid cancer.Archives of endocrinology and metabolismArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposePatients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) typically have a favourable prognosis and recurrence as late as 45 years after diagnosis has been reported. International clinical guidelines for monitoring recommend routine thyroglobulin, ultrasound and physical examination for the detection of recurrence. The aim of this review was to systematically review whether routine monitoring using thyroglobulin (Tg), neck ultrasound and physical examination for recurrence in differentiated thyroid cancer patients is effective in improving patient survival and/or quality of life.
methodsPrimary studies were retrieved via a comprehensive search of three electronic bibliographic databases (PubMed, Web of Science Core Collection and Cochrane Library) without time restriction. Eligible studies must have reported on disease-free patients with DTC subject to long-term routine surveillance. The primary and secondary outcomes of interest were overall survival (or other survival parameters) and quality of life, respectively.
resultsLiterature searches yielded 5529 citations, which were screened by two reviewers. 241 full texts were retrieved. No randomised controlled trials or two-arm cohort studies on the effectiveness of any of the three specified interventions were identified. However, three 'single-arm' studies reporting long-term follow-up outcomes in patients undergoing regular surveillance were identified and appraised.
conclusionsThis review highlights a lack of empirical evidence to support current use of routine surveillance in DTC. Although early detection is possible, routine surveillance may lead to unnecessary intervention.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.