[Basic policy for postsurgical follow-up of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma--guidelines from abroad]

Basic policy for postsurgical follow-up of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma has not been officially announced from both Japan Thyroid Association and the Japanese Society of Thyroid Surgery. In this review, guidelines from the American Thyroid Association Guidelines Taskforce and the European Thyroid Cancer Taskforce were introduced. Essentially, the initial surgical procedure for most patients with thyroid cancer is a near-total or total thyroidectomy, in both guidelines. And postoperative radioiodine remnant ablation is recommended to destroy residual thyroid tissue in an effort to decrease the risk for recurrent locoregional disease and to facilitate long-term surveillance with whole-body iodine scans and/or stimulated thyroglobulin measurements. Basic policy for postsurgical follow-up of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma is written on the above mentioned condition.