Effectiveness of preoperative radioactive iodine (I-131) therapy for locally advanced papillary thyroid cancer: A case report

We report here the effectiveness of preoperative radioactive iodine-131 (I- 131) therapy for locally advanced thyroid cancer. A 57-year-old woman demon strated a hard neck tumor that markedly invaded the surrounding organs. The cytological diagnosis of the tumor using fine-needle aspiration biopsy was papillary carcinoma. Because curative resection of the tumor appeared diff icult at her first visit, 131I therapy was performed prior to surgery and w as more useful than expected. After 3 I-131 treatments, the tumor size was greatly reduced, and the patient underwent a curative operation. Histopatho logical diagnosis was well differentiated papillary carcinoma, pT4 and pN1b . The postoperative clinical course was uneventful. There have been no defi nitive reports using I-131 as preoperative treatment for inoperable thyroid cancer. We suggest that I-131 therapy may also be beneficial as neoadjuvan t therapy for locally advanced thyroid carcinoma.