Korean J Endocr Surg.  2001 Oct;1(2):255-258. 10.16956/kjes.2001.1.2.255.

Postoperative Serum Thyroglobulin in Patients with Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

• Choi IS
• Yea BK
• Han KT
• Sim MS

• KMID: 2376203
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.16956/kjes.2001.1.2.255

Abstract

PURPOSE
Postoperative serial serum thyroglobulin (Tg) measurements on levothyroxine (L-T4) therapy in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) is known to be useful in monitoring tumor progression or regression. The objective of this study was to evaluate the significance of serum Tg levels on L-T4 therapy after surgery.
METHODS
To determine the basal serum Tg levels on L-T4 therapy after surgery in patients with DTC, Tg levels during the initial 2 year-period after surgery were analyzed retrospectively in 37 patients who had undergone a total thyroidectomy for papillary thyroid carcinoma with (Group 2) or without (Group 1) palpable cervical lymph node metastasis. The Tg levels had been measured 1 to 4 times for each patient with total of 53 and 35 times in Group 1 and Group 2 respectively.
RESULTS
The basal Tg levels in Group 1 were all less than 4 ng/mL with 79.3% less than 2 ng/mL, and those in Group 2 were all less than 9 ng/mL with 71.4% less than 2 ng/mL.
CONCLUSION
The data suggests that the postoperative serum Tg level of 10 ng/mL can be a useful reference value in long-term follow-up after total thyroidectomy for patients with DTC.

Keyword

Thyroglobulin; Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma; Total thyroidectomy

MeSH Terms

Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Lymph Nodes
Neoplasm Metastasis
Reference Values
Retrospective Studies
Thyroglobulin*
Thyroid Gland*
Thyroid Neoplasms*
Thyroidectomy
Thyroxine
Thyroglobulin
Thyroxine