Radionuclides in the management of thyroid cancer.

Nuclear medicine imaging was born over 60 years ago with imaging of thyroid conditions. Most of our present imaging devices were developed for imaging of the thyroid and thyroid cancer. Millions of patients in over 100 countries have been diagnosed and treated for thyroid cancer using nuclear medicine techniques. It remains, however, one of the most dynamic areas of development in nuclear medicine with new roles for positron emission tomography and receptor based imaging. In addition to this is research into combinations of genetic therapy and radioisotopes and receptor based therapy using beta emitting analogues of somatostatin. Despite the use of ultrasound computed tomography and magnetic resonance, nuclear medicine techniques remain central to both imaging and therapy in thyroid disease and the field has recently become one of the most dynamic within the specialty.