A Systematic Review of Adjuvant Interventions for Radioiodine in Patients with Thyroid Cancer

Aims: The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of adjuvant interventions for radioiodine in patients with thyroid cancer. Materials and Methods: A systematic search was undertaken on July 9, 2014. RevMan 5 software was used to synthesize data. Results: 13 randomized controlled trials were included. The pooled risk ratio of 0.99 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.96-1.02, p = 0.58) indicated no significant difference in successful thyroid remnant ablation between recombinant human thyroid-stimulating hormone (rhTSH) and thyroid hormone withdrawal in 7 trials. The percentage of patients who had successful ablation was significantly higher in the oral-lithium group than in the control group (p = 0.017). A computerized decision aid improves informed decision-making in patients with early-stage papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) who are considering adjuvant radioiodine treatment (p < 0.001). Amifostine pretreatment did not prevent parenchymal damage to the major salivary gland function after radioiodine treatment (p = 0.2461). Conclusions: The present systematic review suggests that rhTSH, lithium, and computerized decision aids maybe act as beneficial adjuvant interventions for radioiodine in patients with thyroid cancer; however, amifostine does not exhibit helpful effects in thyroid cancer patients treated with radioiodine.