Observational studyThe Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism2025
Association of Free Thyroxine With Progression-Free Survival in Intermediate and High-Risk Differentiated Thyroid Cancer.
Observational study in The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Molecular Determinants of Thyroid Cancer Progression: Thyroid Hormone Signaling, the BRAF/MAPK Pathway, and Emerging miRNA Biomarkers.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- An interpretable multimodal machine learning model for predicting malignancy of thyroid nodules in low-resource scenarios.BMC endocrine disorders · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
contextSupraphysiologic T4 doses are used in intermediate- and high-risk patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (IR/HR-DTC) to suppress tumor progression by TSH. However, preclinical data suggest that T4 can also act as a growth stimulus for cancer, but there is no clinical evidence supporting this claim.
objectiveWe analyzed the association between free T4 (FT4) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with IR/HR-DTC.
methodsThis longitudinal cohort study, approved by multi-institutional review board, included patients with IR/HR-DTC treated uniformly with total thyroidectomy, radioiodine, and TSH suppression therapy, with at least 3 TSH and FT4 values available. Association between FT4 and PFS at landmarks 6, 12, and 18 months was assessed by Kaplan-Meier survival curves, whereas competing risks were assessed through Cox proportional hazards model.
resultsFrom 739 screened patients, 382 met the inclusion criteria and were characterized by a median age of 46 (34-59) years, 64.1% women, and treated with a median radioiodine dosage of 159 (110-410) mCi. During follow up of 7.1 (3.4-12.7) years, 34.6% experienced disease progression. Elevated FT4, observed in 29.3% of patients, was not associated with worse PFS (hazard ratio [HR], 0.9; CI, 0.54-1.5; P = .69), whereas age (HR, 1.02; CI, 1.004-1.04; P = .01), tumor size (HR, 1.15; CI, 1.04-1.28; P = .01) and metastases to the lateral neck lymph nodes (HR, 2.9; CI, 1.7-4.74; P < .001), bones (HR, 4.87; CI, 1.79-13.3; P = .002), and brain (HR, 5.56; CI; 2.54-12.2; P < .001) were associated with shorter PFS.
conclusionContrary to preclinical evidence, elevated FT4 levels do not affect PFS in patients with IR/HR-DTC.
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