Prospective Study Confirms that Radioiodine Remnant Ablation Is Not Necessary in Low-Risk Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

patients with different risk of recurrence The benefits of postoperative 131 I differs between the following groups: ATA High-Risk Category. Patients are defined to be at high risk if they have macroscopic extrathyroidal extension, incomplete tumor resection, distant metastases, and postoperative serum Tg suggestive of distant metastases, large-volume lymph node involvement (any metastatic lymph node 3 cm in largest dimension), and follicular thyroid cancer with extensive vascular invasion (>4 foci of vascular invasion or extracapsular vascular invasion). The published literature supports 131 I ablation for high-risk patients. ATA Intermediate-Risk Category. This includes patients with lymph node metastases (clinical N1 or >5 pathologic N1 with all involved lymph nodes <3 cm in largest dimension), intrathyroidal papillary thyroid cancer with a primary tumor of 1-4 cm that is BRAF mutated (if known), and multifocal papillary microcarcinoma with extrathyroidal extension and BRAF mutated (if known). In these patients, the decision to administer 131