Is postoperative radioactive iodine associated with a survival advantage among…

Abstract Aim This trial aimed to determine wether postoperative radioactive iodine(RAI) associated with a survival benefit among intermediate-risk Papillary Thyroid Cancer patients or not. Methods this study is a retrospective study of intermediate-risk papillary thyroid cancer patients that were treated with or without post operative RAI from 1st January 2002 till 1st January 2012. Overall survival (OS) and multivariate regression analyses were measured for all patients. Results 100 patients were included in this trial : 70 patients received postoperative RAI and 30 patients did not. The mean follow-up time was 7.1 (4.8 -15.1 years), and a median survival time could not be estimated. Overall survival at 10 years was 96% in the RAI vs 93% in the group without RAI (P < .001). RAI reduced risk of death by a 27% [hazard risk (HR) 0.73, confidence interval (CI) 0.64 - 0.84, P < .001]. Older patient age, male gende, larger tumor size, multifocal tumors, lymph node metastases, aggressive histology, vascular invasion, positive surgical margin, minimal extrathyroidal extension and absence of postoperative RAI were accompanied by compromised OS (all P ≤ .001). Conclusion This representative study addresses the survival advantage of RAI for with intermediate risk PTC patients but conducting of large prospective randomized controlled trial is still warranted.