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Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: BACKGROUND, OBJECTIVE, METHODS, METHODS, RESULTS. Meshes: Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Carcinoma, Carcinoma, Papillary, False Positive Reactions, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Iodine Radioisotopes, Male, Middle Aged, Neck, Neoplasm Recurrence, Local, Predictive Value of Tests, Prognosis, Radiotherapy, Adjuvant, Retrospective Studies, Severity of Illness Index, Thyroid Cancer, Papillary, Thyroid Neoplasms, Thyroidectomy, Ultrasonography, Young Adult.
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Is frequent screening with serial neck ultrasound more likely to identify false-positive abnormalities than clinically significant disease in the surveillance of intermediate risk papillary thyroid cancer patients without suspicious findings on follow-up ultrasound evaluation? Context: American Thyroid Association (ATA) intermediate-risk thyroid cancer patients who achieve an excellent treatment response demonstrate a low risk of structural disease recurrence. Despite this fact, most patients undergo frequent surveillance neck ultrasound (US) during follow-up. The objective of the study was to evaluate the clinical utility of routine screening neck US in ATA intermediate-risk patients documented to have a nonstimulated thyroglobulin less than 1.0 ng/mL and a neck US without suspicious findings after therapy. Retrospective review of 90 ATA intermediate-risk papillary thyroid carcinoma patients treated with total thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine ablation in a tertiary referral center. A comparison between the frequency of finding false-positive US abnormalities and the frequency of identifying structural disease recurrence in the study cohort was measured. Over a median of 10 years, 90 patients had a median of six US (range 2-16). Structural disease recurrence was identified in 10% (9 of 90) at a median of 6.3 years. Recurrence was associated with other clinical indicators of disease in 5 of the 90 patients (5.6%, 5 of 90) and was detected without other signs of recurrence in four patients (4.8%, 4 of 84). False-positive US abnormalities were identified in 57% (51 of 90), leading to additional testing, which failed to identify clinically significant disease.
assistant
In ATA intermediate-risk patients who have a nonstimulated thyroglobulin less than 1.0 ng/mL and a neck US without suspicious findings after therapy, frequent US screening during follow-up is more likely to identify false-positive abnormalities than clinically significant structural disease recurrence. Final Decision: yes