Traitement par iode 131 des cancers thyroïdiens différenciés : recommandations 2017 des sociétés françaises SFMN/SFE/SFP/SFBC/AFCE/SFORL

Quality of Life of Patients Followed for Thyroid Cancer: An Element Not to Overlook

“…Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine cancer, and its incidence is increasing worldwide, especially because of the availability and evolution of diagnostic means [1]. It reaches 4 / 100000 inhabitants in men and 13.5 / 100000 in women, with a stable mortality in the order of 0.5 / 100000 [1,2].…”

“…This increase in the number of cases of thyroid cancer is mainly related to the increase of infracentimetric papillary carcinomas which represent about 40% of all cancers [1,3].…”

“…This raises the problem of over diagnosis of these small tumors that do not influence the survival but alter the quality of life (QoL) of the patient, [1] their diagnosis turns the patient status from a healthy subject to a cancerous subject.…”

“…Several studies have focused on analyzing the quality of life in patients treated for differentiated thyroid cancer [5][6][7][8][9][10] and the latest recommendations aim at a better adaptation of our practices towards a less aggressive handling of patients undergoing followup for differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). [11,1] Through this article, we will analyze several publications that raise the issue of the deterioration of quality of life in patients followed for differentiated thyroid cancer, and look for the factors described in the literature that significantly influence this quality of life.…”