Radiotherapy for thyroid cancer

Radioactive ¹³¹l therapy for differentiated thyroid cancer has been used since the 1940s and is an established and effective treatment. In contrast, external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) was considered to be effective for achieving local control but not for prolonging survival. Although clinicians were hesitant to administer EBRT owing to the potential radiation-induced adverse effects of 2 dimensional (2D)-radiotherapy until 2000, it is expected that adverse effects will be reduced and treatment efficacy improved through the introduction of more advanced techniques for delivering radiation (eg, 3D-radiotherapy and intensity modulated radiotherapy [IMRT]). The prognosis of undifferentiated thyroid cancer is known to be extremely bad, although in very rare cases, multimodality therapy (total or subtotal resection, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy) has allowed long-term survival. Here, we report the preliminary results of using hypofractionated radiotherapy for undifferentiated thyroid cancer in our institution.