Prognostic value of the 131I whole-body scan in postsurgical therapy for differentiated thyroid cancer.

Seventy-two patients affected by differentiated thyroid cancer underwent whole-body scan seven days after the postsurgical thyroablative treatment with 131I. In 40 patients this scanning did not reveal any area of 131I uptake outside the residual thyroid parenchyma. During the follow-up period, no signs of functioning tumors were detected in these patients and therefore, there was no need for further therapeutic treatment with radioiodine. From this results it is legitimate to conclude that whole-body scan control can be significantly postponed without diagnostic inaccuracy for those patients whose postthyroablative scans do not reveal diffuse tumor localizations.