SERIAL NECK ULTRASOUND IS MORE LIKELY TO IDENTIFY FALSE-POSITIVE ABNORMALITIES THAN CLINICALLY SIGNIFICANT DISEASE IN LOW-RISK PAPILLARY THYROID CANCER PATIENTS

摘要

Objective: American Thyroid Association (ATA) lowrisk papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) patients without structural evidence of disease on initial posttreatment evaluation have a low risk of recurrence. Despite this, most patients undergo frequent surveillance neck ultrasound (US). The objective of the study was to evaluate the clinical utility of routine neck US in ATA low-risk PTC patients with no structural evidence of disease after their initial thyroid surgery.