[Postoperative follow-up in differentiated carcinoma of the thyroid gland]

Serial serum thyroglobulin determinations and 131I whole body scans are the main diagnostic tools in the follow-up study of patients with treated differentiated thyroid cancer. A thyroglobulin level below 1 ng/ml during suppressive therapy is unsuspicious . In two thirds of patients there is discordance of iodide trapping and thyroglobulin secretion: thyroglobulin assay can't therefore be used as a predictive index of radioiodine uptake.