The Role of Medical Imaging in the Diagnosis and Follow-Up of Recurrent or Metastatic Thyroid Cancer

In an extensive review of this subject, 1095/3083 (35.5%) patients with papillary carcinoma and 102/797 (12.8%) patients with follicular carcinoma were found to have lymph node metastases at the time of initial diagnosis of their cancer (1). In children, the prevalence may be as high as 70% (2). Of patients thought to be disease free after their initial treatment, 252/2684 (9.4%) with papillary and 43/641 (6.7%) with follicular carcinoma subsequently developed nodal metastases (1).