Distant metastases from thyroid cancer of follicular origin are uncommon. Treatment includes levothyroxine administration, focal treatment modalities with surgery, external radiation therapy and thermal ablation, and radioiodine in patients with uptake of 131I in their metastases. Two-thirds of distant metastases become refractory to radioiodine at some point, and when there is a significant tumor burden and documented progression on imaging, a treatment with a kinase inhibitor may provide benefits.
Keywords: follicular thyroid cancer; papillary thyroid cancer; precision medicine; radioactive iodine; refractory thyroid cancer; risk stratification; tyrosine kinase inhibitor.
© 2018 Society for Endocrinology.