Thyroid cancer is the most frequent endocrine tumor. However, in locally advanced or metastatic disease we have only two types of treatment at our disposal: radioactive iodine (RAI) when the disease is RAI-sensitive and multikinase inhibitors (MKIs), lenvatinib and sorafenib, when the disease becomes RAI-refractory (RR). This review revisits the published data on the potential combination of MKIs/lenvatinib with RAI in RR-differentiated thyroid cancer and evaluates some special situations where this combination may be of particular interest. The combination of MKIs/lenvatinib with RAI could, at least hypothetically, improve the efficacy seen in both treatments alone via a synergistic effect and with a lower rate of toxicity rates. Early preclinical data support this notion, while its generalized use awaits the results of ongoing clinical trials.
Keywords: lenvatinib; multikinase inhibitors; radioiodine-refractory thyroid cancer; sorafenib.
© 2022 The Author. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.