• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.341-354
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• 2003

Radioactive iodine therapy using I-131 for hyperthyroidism has been used for more than 50 years, and generally considered safe and devoid of major side effects. Appropriate patient selection criteria and clinical judgement concerning patient preparation should be employed for its optimal use. It has not been possible to resolve the trade-off between efficient definite cure of hyperthyroidism and the high incidence of post-therapy hypothyroidism. The dose of the I-131 needed to maintain euthyroid state remains an area of uncertainity and debate. Early side effects are uncommon and readily managable. Other than the need for long-term monitoring and, in most cases, lifelong thyroid hormone treatment for late adverse consequences of this treatment remains only conjectural. We have reviewed general principles and recent advances in radioiodine treatment for Graves' hyperthyroidism, specially regarding to several controversies.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 2024

The current standard of treatment for differentiated thyroid cancer is surgical resection followed by radioactive iodine therapy according to the recurrence risk. However, external beam radiotherapy may be recommended in limited cases where surgical resection is impossible or residual gross lesion remains or the aforementioned standard therapy is deemed insufficient in achieving local control. We report a case of 59 year old patient who presented with advanced papillary thyroid carcinoma of right neck but was unable to receive surgical resection due to underlying Eisenmenger syndrome. He received radiation therapy of 67.5 Gy in 30 fractions with palliative aim with no further treatment and has been maintaining long-term stable disease state for 38 months. Herein, we report a rare case of palliative aim radiation therapy alone for advanced papillary thyroid carcinoma with literature review.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.95-102
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• 2022

This retrospective study aimed to investigate whether there was a difference in the success rate of removal of residual thyroid tissue in patients with the same cutoff serum thyroglobulin (Tg) value-measured 2 weeks after thyroid hormone withdrawal (THW)-for different radioactive iodine (RAI) activities. We identified 132 patients with papillary thyroid cancer who were treated with total thyroidectomy and RAI therapy to evaluate the efficacy of three radioactivities of I-131: 1,110, 3,700, and 5,550 MBq. Serum Tg testing was performed 1 week before RAI treatment and 2 weeks after THW (pre-Tg); the cutoff pre-Tg level was below 10 ng/mL. Stimulated Tg levels were measured on the day of I-131 administration (off-Tg). After 6 months of treatment, we compared the groups for complete ablation, defined as no uptake on a diagnostic I-131 scan, stimulated Tg level of <1.0 ng/mL, and Tg antibody level of <100 ng/mL. Ninety-five patients (72.0%) achieved complete ablation, with 57.1% (8/14), 78.2% (68/87), and 61.3% (19/31) in the 1,110 MBq, 3,700 MBq, and 5,550 MBq groups, respectively. There was no significant difference in the complete ablation rates between the three groups. In the multivariate analysis, the off-Tg level was a significant predictor of complete ablation. RAI therapy with low radioactivity (1,110 MBq) seemed sufficient for ablation in patients with papillary thyroid cancer with a pre-Tg level below 10 ng/mL. The off-Tg level is a promising and useful predictor of complete ablation after initial RAI therapy.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.112-120
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• 2017

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of adjuvant external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) on local failure-free survival rate (LFFS) for papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) invading the trachea. Materials and Methods: Fifty-six patients with locally advanced PTC invading the trachea were treated with surgical resection. After surgery, 21 patients received adjuvant EBRT and radioactive iodine therapy (EBRT group) and 35 patients were treated with radioactive iodine therapy (control group). Results: The age range was 26-87 years (median, 56 years). The median follow-up period was 43 months (range, 4 to 145 months). EBRT doses ranged from 50.4 to 66 Gy (median, 60 Gy). Esophagus invasion and gross residual disease was more frequent in the EBRT group. In the control group, local recurrence developed in 9 (9/35, 26%) and new distant metastasis in 2 (2/35, 6%) patients, occurring 4 to 68 months (median, 37 months) and 53 to 68 months (median, 60 months) after surgery, respectively. Two patients had simultaneous local recurrence and new distant metastasis. There was one local failure in the EBRT group at 18 months after surgery (1/21, 5%). The 5-year LFFS was 95% in the EBRT group and 63% in the control group (p = 0.103). In the EBRT group, one late grade 2 xerostomia was developed. Conclusion: Although, EBRT group had a higher incidence of esophagus invasion and gross residual disease, EBRT group showed a better 5-year LFFS. Adjuvant EBRT may have contributed to the better LFFS in these patients.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.143-145
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• 2012

Follicular thyroid cancer(FTC) accounts for about 10-15% of thyroid cancer. Distant metastasis is common, usually to lung, bone and brain. 71-years-old man visited neurosurgery outpatient department. He complained of recent 6kg weight loss, left upper extremity pain with weakness and back pain. The radiologic findings showed multiple bone metastasis including thoracic spine and left scapular resulting from FTC. There was a probable brain metastatic lesion on right temporal fossa. The core biopsy of thyroid and thoracic spine(T11) confirmed metastatic follicular carcinoma. Radioactive iodine therapy and radiotherapy was done following total thyroidectomy. We report a unique case of multiple bone metastasis from follicular carcinoma of thyroid with literature review.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.253-259
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• 1998

The increasing risk of subsequent malignancy after treatment of malignant lymphoma is well known, which is mainly due to longer survival of these patients. Radiotherapy at an early stage of Hodgkin's disease or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is accepted to be associated with future occurrence of secondary thyroid cancer. Nevertheless, the synchronous presentation of these malignancies is extremely rare. Well differentiated thyroid cancer, a slow-growing tumor that responds to therapy with surgery and radioactive iodine, is associated with prolonged survival. therefore, it is important to make this diagnosis in patients who show evidence of malignant lymphoma. Furthermore, appropriate treatment must be considered for thyroid cancer to improve the prognosis of these patients. We herein reported 4 cases of synchronous thyroid cancer and malignant lymphoma in patients who had not previously recieved radiotherapy or chemotherapy.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.79-82
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• 2013

Thyroid cancer is known as its relatively high cure rate after surgical treatment and spinal metastasis of thyroid cancer is extremely rare as the prevalence is only 2-13%. Spinal metastasis is usually asymptomatic and discovered incidentally in most cases. A 66-year-old man was diagnosed as thyroid papillary cancer with spinal metastasis. We treated the patient by surgery, adjuvant radiotheraphy and radioactive iodine therapy. C6 corpectomy was followed for the residual spinal metastasis by the department of neurosurgery. The patient had no functional complication by the surgical process. At 24 months after surgery, there was no sign of recurrence and the patient led social life without any discomfort. We present this case with a review of the related literatures.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.138-142
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• 2015

L-thyroxine (LT4) withdrawal prior to radioactive iodine (RAI) ablation therapy is a commonly used method for successful treatment of patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). However, a prolonged period of hypothyroidism induced by LT4 withdrawal is sometimes associated with impaired quality of life and cardiopulmonary dysfunction in PTC patients. Furthermore, LT4 withdrawal may have a trophic effect on residual cancer by means of increased thyrotropin. We report on 2 cases of metastatic PTC patients with malignant pleural effusion (MPE) whose disease showed rapid worsening after LT4 withdrawal and RAI therapy. The first case is a 65-year-old woman who had PTC with multiple distant metastases and MPE. During LT4 withdrawal for RAI therapy, MPE showed rapid worsening, and the patient required repetitive therapeutic thoracentesis. The second case is a 49-year-old woman with PTC who underwent 3 additional operations for cancer recurrence in the neck lymph nodes and 6 times of RAI treatments. While preparing for the $7^{th}$ RAI treatment by withdrawing LT4, she developed MPE which became progressively aggravated after RAI therapy. Both patients experienced increased pleural effusion during the LT4 withdrawal period and a rise in the thyroglobulin level was observed after RAI therapy. MPE was not controlled with therapeutic thoracentesis and pleurodesis. Eventually, both patients died of rapid disease progression after RAI therapy. In summary, LT4 withdrawal may have an adverse effect on metastatic PTC patients, particularly those with MPE.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.272-273
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• 2004

We experienced a case with meningioma showing false positive I-131 uptake. A 55-years old female patient underwent high dose (150 mCi) radioactive iodine therapy to ablate remnant tissue after total thyroidectomy for papillary thyroid cancer. in addition to intense tracer uptake in thyroid bed, there was mild but focal abnormal uptake in left frontal lobe of the brain on post-therapy I-131 whole body scan. Subsequent brain MR imaging showed single mass lesion in left frontal lobe and the mass was resected under the impression of brain metastasis of thyroid carcinoma. Pathologic report confirmed meningioma from the surgical specimen.

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.139-150
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• 2022

Theranostics, a composite word of therapy and diagnosis, is known as personalized medicine and the concept of diagnosis and treatment at the same time. In nuclear medicine, it means performing both therapeutic and diagnostic radioisotope therapy using the same target molecule. The increased production and utilization of ⁶⁴Cu opens a new era of theranostics. The studies introduced here have shown that ⁶⁴CuCl₂ and various compounds or biomolecules labeled with ⁶⁴Cu are unique radiopharmaceuticals with physiological properties suitable for use as diagnostic and therapeutic agents. So far, these two abilities have been described only for radioactive iodine. Although ⁶⁴Cu has complex chemical properties compared to other PET radioisotopes such as ⁶⁸Ga, it has an appropriate half-life and enables high-quality PET images similar to ¹⁸F, which is an advantage in terms of diagnosis. In addition, since it also has therapeutic properties through the release of β^- particles and Auger electrons by electron capture, radiopharmaceuticals using ⁶⁴Cu stand for innovative radiopharmaceuticals for theranostic purposes. Therefore, based on the initial results obtained using ⁶⁴Cu as a therapeutic agent, it is expected that additional research on the application of ⁶⁴Cu will lead to a new era in the theranostics field.