Reflective analysis on the current

purposeRadioiodine (

methodsTotally 599 intermediate- and high-risk DTC patients from three centers were enrolled. The post-operative disease status, instant purpose verification and 12-month response to RAT were assessed using thyroglobulin levels, imagings and post-therapy whole-body scan (Rx-WBS) during follow-ups.

resultsTotally 49.75% patients were assessed as post-operative disease status excellent response (ER)/indeterminate response (IDR), 37.56% patients were biochemical incomplete response (BIR) and 12.69% were structural incomplete response (SIR). Through instant purpose verification, 49.92%, 36.73%, and 13.36% patients were targeted at remnant thyroid, biochemical and structural/functional disease, respectively. 59.39%, 13.48%, 16.55%, and 10.58% patients were ER, IDR, BIR and SIR at 12-month final response, respectively. 95.64% patients with post-operative ER/IDR remained 12-month ER/IDR. 45.78% post-operative BIR converted to ER/IDR. Intermediaterisk, T1/T2 staging, non-thyroid capsule invasion, non-multifocal lesion, times of surgery, no abnormal finding on Rx-WBS were predictors for post-operative BIR transferred to 12-month ER/IDR (all P < 0.05).

conclusionIntermediate-risk patients with post-operative ER or IDR might be spared from aggressive RAT, and patients with post-operative BIR could be potential candidates for RAT at higher administered activities (>3.7 GBq, median 5.55 GBq, IQR 4.625 GBq-5.55 GBq), especially in those with less aggressive clinicopathological features who may even obtain ER/IDR at 12-month response.