The Thyroid Study, conducted in the province of Verona, was approved by the local ethics committee.
The TNM classification contributes significantly to survival, but does not include other contributory prognostic variables, whereas the prognostic index developed by the EORTC thyroid study group, which takes account of age and histology, proved a reliable predictor of survival for our patient group.
In carcinomas of the thyroid, numerous studies have suggested, although equivocally, that BRAF mutation associates with the older age, advanced disease, classical papillary histology and poorer prognosis as indicated by disease-free and overall survival [ 8, 9].
However, most large centres performing isotopic thyroid studies will find 1 2 incidental thyroid cancers a year on the pre-treatment scan performed on patients with hyperthyroidism using I or 99mTc pertechnetate.
For example, radioactive iodine, such as iodine-131, can be used in thyroid studies, and radioactive gases, such as xenon-133, can be used for lung function studies.
Autoimmune thyroid studies were not performed.
All thyroid studies were conducted by UNICEF consultant, Prof. G.Gerasimov (Russia).
Further complete blood count, chemistry panel, and thyroid studies were also normal.
Figure 6 shows the reconstructed images from the 99mTc mouse thyroid study.
