Radionuclide imaging and treatment of thyroid cancer

Over the past decades, the diagnostic methods and therapeutic tools for thyroid cancer (TC) have been greatly improved. In addition to the classical method of ingestion of radioactive iodine-131 (I-131) and subsequent I-123 and I-124 positron emission tomography (PET) in therapy and examination, I-124 PET-based 3-dimensional imaging, Ga-68-labeled [1, 4, 7, 10-tetraazacyclododecane-1, 4, 7, 10-tetraacetic acid]-1-NaI(3)-octreotide (DOTANOC) PET/computed tomography (CT), Tc-99m tetrofosmin, pre-targeted radioimmunotherapy, and peptide receptor radionuclide therapy have all been used clinically. These novel methods are useful in diagnosis and therapy of TC, but also have unavoidable adverse effects. In this review, we will discuss the development of nuclear medicine in TC examination and treatment.