Factors Affecting Disease-Free Status of Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma Patients

Abstract

Purpose: The study aim was to assess factors that impact on the outcome of radioiodine therapy in patientsdiagnosed with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC). Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: We performed a retrospectivecohort study on 256 patients with DTC who underwent thyroidectomy and received radioiodine therapy duringDecember 2003 to January 2012. All patients were followed up for at least 1 year. They were considered diseasefreeby the criteria of the revised American Thyroid Association Management Guideline for Patients withThyroid nodules and DTC (ATA guideline 2009). <br/><b>Results</b>: On Cox univariate analysis, factors associated withdisease-free status were age<45, stage I tumor, low risk group by histopathology, unifocal tumor involvement,stimulated serum Tg level at 1st dose of radioiodine therapy and no distant metastasis from 1st post-treatmentWBS (post RxWBS). On multivariate analysis, stage I tumor and stimulated serum Tg level at 1st dose ofradioiodine therapy < 30 ng/mL were the significant prognostic factors that increased disease-free rate by 1.73times and 2.60 times, respectively (P-value <0.05). <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: Factors affecting the outcome of radioiodinetherapy in our study were age, stage, risk of recurrence by histopathology, unifocal tumor involvement and 1stpostRxWBS findings. From these factors, stage I tumor and stimulated serum Tg level at 1st dose of radioiodinetherapy were independent prognostic factors that substantial increase the disease-free rate.