Faster Radioiodine Washout in the Treatment of Pulmonary Metastases of Papillary Thyroid Cancer Prepared With Recombinant Human Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone

Although recombinant human thyroid-stimulating hormone (rhTSH) has been approved officially as an adjunct to the diagnostic approach of thyroid cancer and ablation of thyroid remnants, its application in treatment of persistent or metastatic disease is still under investigation. We present a 24-year-old woman with papillary thyroid cancer and bilateral lung metastases shown on the fist post-therapeutic scan, which was prepared with thyroid hormone withdrawal (THW). The second post-therapeutic scan prepared with rhTSH showed negative findings. The third post-therapeutic scan prepared with THW showed positive uptake in the lung metastases again. The serial findings indicate that the treatment of thyroid cancer prepared with rhTSH might result in a faster radioiodine washout in tumor foci than when prepared with THW.