Long term quality of life in differentiated thyroid cancer patients after thyroidectomy and high doses of 131 I with or without suppressive treatment.

According to international guidelines, the most frequently applied diagnostic procedures and therapeutic interventions for differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients are those of nuclear medicine. Differentiated thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy and over the past decades has shown the fastest increasing incidence of all malignancies. This cancer has a detrimental impact on a patients' quality of life (QoL), not very well considered in general practice. In this paper we aimed to review the QoL of DTC patients who received high doses of 131 I and had (or not) a supplementary treatment. Our review includes physical, mental and social well-being and emotional and physical discomfort. Quality of life is related to the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures which DTC patients still have to undergo. Nuclear medicine physicians can maintain or restore the highest achievable QoL of these patients based on guidelines as well as individualized patient centered practice.