Thyroid suppression and medical ablation for differentiated thyroid cancer.

Patients with thyroid cancer benefit from treatment with exogenous thyroid hormone for two reasons: it provides adequate levels of thyroid hormone to peripheral tissues, and it reduces the level of thyrotropin, which may be an important growth factor in patients with differentiated malignant neoplasms. The use of radioactive iodine for thyroid cancer is highly controversial. Its most appropriate applications are in follicular cancers, in older patients, and in distant functioning metastases. Its value in papillary cancer is questionable, particularly in young patients. There is a great need for effective basic and clinical research on the natural course of differentiated thyroid cancer and the effects of specific therapies.