Differentiated thyroid carcinoma in childhood and adolescence—clinical course and role of radioiodine

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Abstract
Background Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) in childhood has a good prognosis despite a high incidence of relapse. The use of radioactive iodine (RAI) has not been well established. Procedure This is a review of 60 patients less than 21 years of age; mean follow‐up was 14 years. Results Patients had a higher relapse rate with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) than with follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC): 24.5 vs. 9.1%. Compared with 997 patients with age ≥ 21, patients P = 0.04). At last follow‐up, 10 of 12 patients (80%) with local‐regional (LR) relapse and five of nine patients (55.6%) with distant metastasis were rendered disease‐free. No patient has experienced a second malignancy. Conclusions Prognosis of DTC in young patients was good. Patients with LR relapse and distant metastasis had a high rate of remission after treatment. RAI treatment can reduce the rate of LR relapse in patients with no distant metastasis and result in complete remission in half of those with distant metastasis. No patient experienced a second malignancy.