Is recombinant human TSH as effective as thyroid hormone withdrawal in the detection and treatment of metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer?

Abstract

Evaluation of: Van Nostr D, Khorjekav GR, O'Neil J et al. Recombinant human thyroid-stimulating hormone versus thyroid hormone withdrawal in the identification of metastasis in differentiated thyroid cancer with ¹³¹I planar whole body imaging and ¹²⁴I PET. J. Nucl. Med 53(3), 359-362 (2012). In a recent article, Van Nostrand et al. compared two methods of patient preparation, that is, recombinant human thyroid-stimulating hormone and thyroid hormone withdrawal, for the detection of metastasis in patients previously treated for differentiated thyroid cancer, using both ¹³¹I whole-body imaging and ¹²⁴I positron emission tomography. The major finding of this prospective study was that the number of patients and the number of foci for patient positive at ¹³¹I whole-body imaging and ¹²⁴I PET performed after thyroid hormone withdrawal was significantly higher when compared with that related to patients prepared with recombinant human thyroid-stimulating hormone.

Keywords: I PET; I WB; differentiated thyroid cancer; metastasis detection; recombinant human TSH; thyroid hormone withdrawal.