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Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment of Thyroid Diseases

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A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Medical Research".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2024) | Viewed by 5758

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Savvas Frangos

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Guest Editor

Bank of Cyprus Oncology Centre, Nicosia, Cyprus
Interests: nuclear medicine; thyroid cancer
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Ioannis Iakovou

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Guest Editor

School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: nuclear medicine; thyroid cancer
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nuclear medicine and thyroid diseases are intimately related. Indeed, the existence of nuclear medicine as a medical specialty began with the treatment of thyroid disease using Iodine-131 in the 1940s, which could be considered the first example of theragnostics.

One would expect, after so many years of experience, all the questions regarding the diagnosis and therapy of thyroid diseases to have been answered. However, this is not the case. There remains significant controversy regarding the screening, diagnosis, and therapy of thyroid diseases. This Special Issue will focus on these controversies and new developments.

The Special Issue welcomes contributions that address the evaluation and treatment of thyroid diseases, both benign and cancerous.

Due to the complex nature of thyroid pathology, special expertise is required in clinical practice for the continuous development of the relevant techniques and technology. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to gather recent studies investigating the screening, diagnosis, and therapy of thyroid diseases. Any original research or narrative and systematic reviews covering the abovementioned topics will be considered.

Dr. Savvas Frangos
Dr. Ioannis Iakovou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Life is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

thyroid cancer
medullary thyroid cancer
thyroid diseases
management of benign diseases
Iodine-131 therapy
radiation protection
dosimetry
Men2 genetics
surgical management of thyroid
thyroid nodule management
sestamibi scintigraphy

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1135 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Survival Trends in Pediatric Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: A Middle Eastern Perspective

by Akram Al-Ibraheem, Mohamed Al-Shammaa, Ahmed Saad Abdlkadir, Feras Istatieh, Ula Al-Rasheed, Thomas Pascual, Rawad Rihani, Hadeel Halalsheh, Taleb Ismael, Aysar Khalaf, Iyad Sultan, Issa Mohamad, Hikmat Abdel-Razeq and Asem Mansour

Life 2024, 14(1), 158; https://doi.org/10.3390/life14010158 - 22 Jan 2024

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1448

Abstract

Pediatric Differentiated Thyroid Cancer (pedDTC) is a rare pediatric malignancy with an increasing incidence over time. To date, there is a paucity of literature specifically addressing pedDTC within the context of Middle Eastern ethnicity. This retrospective study aimed to assess the risk-stratifying factors for overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) in pediatric DTC patients from Iraq and Jordan. The medical records of 81 patients from two tertiary cancer institutes were retrieved. Kaplan–Meier analysis was employed to investigate OS and EFS, and the Cox proportional hazards model was employed to estimate hazard ratios. All patients underwent surgery and radioactive iodine therapy, with a median age of 14 and an interquartile range of 12–15. Lymph node involvement was observed in 55% of cases, while distant metastases were present in 13.5%. After a median follow-up period of 68 months, the 10-year survival rate was determined to be 94%, while the 10-year EFS rate was 58%. EFS was negatively impacted by cervical lymph node metastases and early age of diagnosis (p ≤ 0.01, each). Therefore, pediatrics with initial cervical lymph node metastases and those diagnosed before puberty tend to experience poorer EFS, which may justify the need for more aggressive management plans. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment of Thyroid Diseases)

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13 pages, 2381 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Impact of Dual and Triple Energy Window Scatter Correction on I-123 Postsurgical Thyroid SPECT/CT Imaging Using a Phantom with Small Sizes of Thyroid Remnants

by Konstantinos Michael, Savvas Frangos, Ioannis Iakovou, Antonis Lontos, George Demosthenous and Yiannis Parpottas

Life 2024, 14(1), 113; https://doi.org/10.3390/life14010113 - 11 Jan 2024

Viewed by 832

Abstract

I-123 is preferential over I-131 for diagnostic SPECT imaging after a thyroidectomy to determine the presence and size of residual thyroid tissue for radioiodine ablation. Scattering degrades the quality of I-123 SPECT images, primarily due to the penetration of high-energy photons into the main photopeak. The objective of this study was to quantitatively and qualitatively investigate the impact of two widely used window-based scatter correction techniques, the dual energy window (DEW) and triple energy window (TEW) techniques, in I-123 postsurgical SPECT/CT thyroid imaging using an anthropomorphic phantom with small sizes of remnants and anatomically correct surrounding structures. For this purpose, non-scatter-corrected, DEW and TEW scatter-corrected SPECT/CT acquisitions were performed for 0.5–10 mL remnants within a phantom, with 0.5–12.6 MBq administered activities within the remnants, and without and with background-to-remnant activity ratios of 5% and 10%. The decrease in photons, the noise and non-uniformity in the background region due to scatter correction were measured, as well as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) from small remnants. The images were also visually evaluated by two experienced nuclear medicine physicians. Scatter correction decreased photons to a higher extent in larger regions than smaller regions. Larger remnants yielded higher SNR and CNR values, particularly at lower background activities. It was found from the quantitative analysis and the qualitative evaluation that TEW scatter correction performed better than DEW scatter correction, particularly at higher background activities, while no significant differences were reported at lower background activities. Scatter correction should be applied in I-123 postsurgical SPECT/CT imaging to improve the image contrast and detectability of small remnants within the background. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment of Thyroid Diseases)

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11 pages, 1263 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Relationship between Thyroid CT Density, Volume, and Future TSH Elevation: A 5-Year Follow-Up Study

by Tomohiro Kikuchi, Shouhei Hanaoka, Takahiro Nakao, Yukihiro Nomura, Takeharu Yoshikawa, Md Ashraful Alam, Harushi Mori and Naoto Hayashi

Life 2023, 13(12), 2303; https://doi.org/10.3390/life13122303 - 6 Dec 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 962

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the relationship between thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) elevation and the baseline computed tomography (CT) density and volume of the thyroid. We examined 86 cases with new-onset hypothyroidism (TSH > 4.5 IU/mL) and 1071 controls from a medical check-up database over 5 years. A deep learning-based thyroid segmentation method was used to assess CT density and volume. Statistical tests and logistic regression were employed to determine differences and odds ratios. Initially, the case group showed a higher CT density (89.8 vs. 81.7 Hounsfield units (HUs)) and smaller volume (13.0 vs. 15.3 mL) than those in the control group. For every +10 HU in CT density and −3 mL in volume, the odds of developing hypothyroidism increased by 1.40 and 1.35, respectively. Over the course of the study, the case group showed a notable CT density reduction (median: −8.9 HU), whereas the control group had a minor decrease (−2.9 HU). Thyroid volume remained relatively stable for both groups. Higher CT density and smaller thyroid volume at baseline are correlated with future TSH elevation. Over time, there was a substantial and minor decrease in CT density in the case and control groups, respectively. Thyroid volumes remained consistent in both cohorts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment of Thyroid Diseases)

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Review

Jump to: Research

25 pages, 819 KiB

Open AccessReview

Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors for Radioactive Iodine Refractory Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

by Christos Cortas and Haris Charalambous

Life 2024, 14(1), 22; https://doi.org/10.3390/life14010022 - 22 Dec 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1607

Abstract

Patients with differentiated thyroid cancer usually present with early-stage disease and undergo surgery followed by adjuvant radioactive iodine ablation, resulting in excellent clinical outcomes and prognosis. However, a minority of patients relapse with metastatic disease, and eventually develop radioactive iodine refractory disease (RAIR). In the past there were limited and ineffective options for systemic therapy for RAIR, but over the last ten to fifteen years the emergence of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has provided important new avenues of treatment for these patients, that are the focus of this review. Currently, Lenvatinib and Sorafenib, multitargeted TKIs, represent the standard first-line systemic treatment options for RAIR thyroid carcinoma, while Cabozantinib is the standard second-line treatment option. Furthermore, targeted therapies for patients with specific targetable molecular abnormalities include Latrectinib or Entrectinib for patients with NTRK gene fusions and Selpercatinib or Pralsetinib for patients with RET gene fusions. Dabrafenib plus Trametinib currently only have tumor agnostic approval in the USA for patients with BRAF V600E mutations, including thyroid cancer. Redifferentiation therapy is an area of active research, with promising initial results, while immunotherapy studies with checkpoint inhibitors in combination with tyrosine kinase inhibitors are underway. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment of Thyroid Diseases)

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