July - September 2016, Volume 12, Issue 3

Pérez D, Marulanda M, Sanabria A

Behaviour of Early Thyroglobulin after Total Thyroidectomy for Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

Acta Endo (Buc) 2016, 12 (3): 370-374
doi: 10.4183/aeb.2016.370

Context. The objectives of treatment of thyroid carcinoma include hormonal suppression, radioiodine ablation and follow-up with serum thyroglobulin (Tg). Tg levels should not be measured before six weeks postthyroidectomy. Objective. To describe the behaviour of early postoperative Tg in patients who underwent total thyroidectomy and its ability to predict the serum Tg levels after suppression. Design. This is a retrospective cohort study. Subjects and methods. Adult patients who underwent total thyroidectomy with at least two postoperative measurements of serum Tg, negative TgAb and concomitant serum TSH values were included. Tg, TgAb and TSH level measurements were completed two weeks postoperatively and during the follow-up period. Results. Twenty-nine patients fulfilled all criteria. The median serum Tg level at two weeks after surgery was 3.8 ug/L (0.3 -300) with a serum TSH level of 69.9 mU/L; 11-227. At the two-week measurement, 16 (55%) patients had serum Tg levels lower than 5 ug/L and 4 patients had levels between 5-10 μg/L. Conclusions. Postoperative early serum Tg could be an alternative to values measured six months after surgery and could be used as a predictive tool to make earlier therapeutic decisions.

Keywords: well differentiated thyroid carcinoma, thyroglobulin, follow-up, radioiodine ablation.

Correspondence: Alvaro Sanabria MD, Universidad de Antioquia, Hospital Pablo Tobón Uribe, Carrera 51D No. 62-29. Medellin, Colombia, E-mail: alvarosanabria@gmail.com