[Indications for percutaneous radiotherapy in carcinoma of the thyroid gland. Freiburg consensus]

At the University of Freiburg, a consensus was arrived at concerning the place of external radiotherapy in the management of thyroid cancer. External irradiation is always indicated in papillary and folliculary carcinoma in the pT4 stage of pTNM classification but not in those in pT1-3 pN0 stage. In the presence of lymph-node metastases and distant metastases, an individual treatment concept is recommended, which should be set up in an interdisciplinary conference regarding all risk factors, especially the age and sex of the patient, the histology and grading of the tumor and the completeness of tumor resection. Finally, radiotherapy is usually not indicated in medullary thyroid carcinoma, whereas it is always indicated in anaplastic carcinoma.