Major Guidelines for Managing Thyroid Cancer Published in Thyroid Journal

As you know by now, I stay on top of the latest findings regarding thyroid cancer. Google's News service has a subscription service so any new info posted anywhere gets sent to my mailbox directly. This is a recent find.... very good info to have as a ThyCa patient!

January 20, 2006 08:01 AM US Eastern Timezone

Major Guidelines for Managing Thyroid Cancer Published in Thyroid Journal

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 2006--The American Thyroid Association has released updated, official guidelines for the management of patients with thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer, which reflect a decade of improved strategies for identifying, evaluating, and treating thyroid disorders. The new management guidelines have been pre-published online (www.liebertpub.com/thy) and will be available in print in the February 2006 (Volume 16, Number 2) issue of Thyroid, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com).

Prepared by the ATA's Guidelines Taskforce, comprised of a team of experts in endocrinology, surgery, and nuclear medicine from leading academic and research institutions from across the U.S., the guidelines present recommendations for many controversial treatment issues. These include identifying the most cost-effective approach for diagnostic evaluation of thyroid nodules, the extent of surgery needed for small thyroid cancers, the appropriate use of thyroxine suppression therapy, the role of recombinant human thyrotropin, and the use of radioactive iodine to ablate remnant tissue following thyroidectomy.

Led by taskforce Chair David S. Cooper, M.D., Director, Division of Endocrinology, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore (Maryland), and Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the taskforce focused on the importance of the timely and accurate diagnostic evaluation of thyroid nodules to rule out thyroid cancer and on therapeutic strategies for differentiated thyroid cancer, which represents approximately 90% of the estimated 26,000 cases of thyroid cancer diagnosed each year in the U.S.

The guidelines also include hands-on information on the follow-up and treatment of thyroid nodules, including the role of medical therapy. They outline the goals of therapy for differentiated thyroid cancer, strategies for staging thyroid tumors, the role of adjunctive external beam radiation and chemotherapy, and long-term management issues.

"I am gratified that the ATA had the foresight to develop evidence-based guidelines that will enable physicians who care for patients with thyroid disease to do so rationally, judiciously, and cost-effectively," says Dr. Cooper.

Thyroid, edited by Terry F. Davies, M.D. , of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Bone Diseases at Mount Sinai School of Medicine (New York, NY), is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly in print and online. As the Official Journal of the American Thyroid Association, Thyroid publishes original papers and timely reviews that reflect the rapidly advancing changes in our understanding of thyroid physiology and pathology, from the molecular biology of the cell to clinical management of thyroid disorders. A complete table of contents and free sample issue may be viewed online at www.liebertpub.com/thy

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics and Journal of Women's Health. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 60 journals, books, and newsletters is available at www.liebertpub.com.