2014 American Thyroid Association Management Guidelines for Patients with Thyroid Nodules and...

2014 American Thyroid Association Management Guidelines for Patients with Thyroid Nodules and

Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

Ronen GurfinkelFebruary 25, 2015

2015

Objectives

• Review guidelines and updates on– Preoperative staging– Initial surgical management of DTC– Staging and risk stratification– Radioiodine therapy– Assessing response to therapy– Long term Follow-up

ATA Guidelines

• Thyroid nodule and DTC treatment guidelines first developed 1996

• Revised in 2006 and 2009• Draft update released 2014• Endorsed by AACE, American College of

Endocrinology, BAHNO, ENDO Society, EACMFS, EANM, ESES, ESPE

2009 Guidelines

2015 Guidelines

2015 Guidelines

2015 ATA Guidelines - Organization

A. Thyroid nodule guidelines– Recommendations 1-31

B. DTC: Initial management guidelines– Recommendations 32-61

C. DTC: Long-term management guidelines and advanced cancer management guidelines– Recommendations 33-101

D. Directions for future research

Preoperative Assessment

Preoperative Staging

• Role of preop neck U/S?– 20-50% of DTC patients have cervical LN mets– Preop U/S identifies suspicious LN in 20-31%

• Can confirm LN mets with U/S-guided FNA• Measuring Tg in FNA needle washout fluid

may be helpful if select cases– Cystic LN– Inadequate cytology– Discordant U/S and cytology results

Preoperative Staging

• Recommendation 32A. Preop neck US (central + lateral compartments)

(Strong/Moderate)B. US-guided biopsy of suspicious LNs (≥ 8-10 mm)

if would change management (Strong/Moderate)

C. (NEW) FNA-Tg washout appropriate in select patients, but ? difficult to interpret (Weak/Low)

Preoperative Staging

• 2009 guidelines recommended against routine preop CT, MRI, or PET

• Choi et al (2009)– 299 PTC patients, compared U/S vs CT– U/S better for ETE, multifocal/bilobar disease– U/S more accurate for staging

• Lesnick et al (2014)– U/S + CT better than U/S alone for lateral LN

• MRI and PET have poor sensitivities for LNs (30-40%)• Cross-sectional imaging is better for locally invasive tumours

Preoperative Staging

• Recommendation 33 (CHANGED)A. Cross-section imaging (CT, MRI) with contrast

recommend as adjunct to U/S if suspicious for advanced disease (Strong/Low)

B. Routine preop FDG-PET no recommended (Strong/Low)

Preoperative Staging

• Preop Anti-Tg Ab do not predict stage, disease-free survival

• No data that preop Tg impact on management or outcomes

• Recommendation 34– Routine preop Tg and Anti-Tg Ab are not

recommended (Weak/Low)

Initial Surgical Management

Surgery for Biopsy Proven DTC

• 2009 guidelinesTC > 1 cm total or near-total thyroidectomyTC < 1 cm lobectomy (unifocal, no other RFs)

• Based on retrospective data that bilateral surgery – Improved survival– Decreased recurrence– Allowed for routine RAI– Facilitated follow-up

• 52,173 patients in National Cancer Data Base (1985-1998)

Bilimoria et al, Ann Surg 2007

• 52,173 patients in National Cancer Data Base (1985-1998)

Bilimoria et al, Ann Surg 2007

Surgery for Biopsy Proven DTC

• Recent data showed similar outcomes between unilateral vs. bilateral surgery (in selected patients)

• Unilateral surgery less LT4 Rx and less complications

• 2015 guidelines use RAI more selectively and RAI scans used less in follow-up

Lobectomy vs Total Thyroidectomy

• Mendelsohn et al, Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2010– 22,724 PTC patients– SEER 1988-2001– No survival difference

• 1,810 patients in MSKCC database (1986-2005)

Nixon et al, Surgery 2012

Surgery for Biopsy Proven DTC• Recommendation 35 (CHANGED)

A. Total or near-total thyroidectomy if • TC > 4cm• Gross extrathyroidal extension• Clinically apparent LN mets (cN1)• Clinicaly apparent distant mets (cM1)

(Strong/Moderate)

B. Either lobectomy or thyroidectomy if TC 1-4 cm AND cN0“Thyroid lobectomy alone may be sufficient initial treatment for low risk papillary and follicular carcinomas; however, the treatment team may choose total thyroidectomy to enable RAI therapy or to enhance follow-up based upon disease features and/or patient preferences.”

(Strong/Moderate)

C. Lobectomy if TC < 1cm (no ETE, cN0, no other RFs)(Strong/Moderate)

Lymph Node Dissection

• Recommendation 36A. Therapeutic central neck dissection (CND) for

cN1 (Strong/Moderate)B. Consider prophylactic CND for PTC with cN0 but

T3 or T4, cN1b, or if info will change management (Weak/Low)

C. No prophylactic CND may be appropriate for noninvasive T1 or T2 tumours, cN0, and most follicular cancer (Strong/Moderate)

Lymph Node Dissection

• Recommendation 37– Therapeutic lateral LN dissection in biopsy-proven

lateral cervical LN mets (Strong/Moderate)

Completion Thyroidectomy

• Recommendation 38A. Offer if bilateral thyroidectomy would have been

recommended if diagnosis was available before initial surgery. Therapeutic CND if cN1 (Strong/Moderate)

B. RAI in lieu of completion thyroidectomy not recommended (except select cases)

(Weak/Low)

Staging and Risk Stratification

Postoperative Staging

Recommendation 47AJCC/UICC staging for all DTC patients, based on utility in predicting mortality, and its requirement in cancer registries (Strong/Moderate)

ATA Initial Risk Stratification

• AJCC stage unable to predict recurrence• 2009 guidelines introduced the Initial Risk

Stratification system

ATA Initial Risk Stratification

• Risk in each category can vary based on other features– Histology– Multifocality– Extent of vascular invasion– Extent of LN mets– Genetic markers

Modified Initial Risk Stratification System

BRAF V600E Mutation

• BRAF V600E shown to predict higher risk, but is also linked to other clinico-pathologic features

• Tufano et al, Medicine 2012– Meta-analysis 14 studies, 2,470 PTC patients– Higher recurrence in BRAF V600E compared to

wild type (24.9% vs 12.6%)– Sensitivity to detect recurrence was 65%– But PPV 25%

Postoperative Risk Stratification

• Recommendation 48 (CHANGED)A. ATA 2009 Initial Risk Stratification system for

postop DTC patients based on utility in predicting risk of recurrence/persistence (Strong/Moderate)

B. May use additional prognostic variables in Modified Initial Risk Stratification System; incremental benefit not established (Weak/Low)

C. BRAF testing not routinely recommended for initial postop risk stratification (adds little incremental prognostic value) (Weak/Moderate)

Dynamic Risk Assessment

• Initial staging and risk assessments provide single point estimates and can be used to guide initial therapy

• No current system modifies initial risk estimate using follow-up data

• Systems that incorporate response to therapy have improved ability to predict long term outcomes

• Limitations– Not validated in certain subgroups (eg no RAI, lobectomy)– Lack of prospective data– Inconsistency between authors in defining significant Tg levels

or imaging findings

Vaisman et al, Clin Endocrinol 2012

Validation of Dynamic Risk Assessment

Tuttle et al, Thyroid 2010

Dynamic Risk Assessment

• Excellent response:no clinical, biochemical or structural evidence of disease

• Biochemical incomplete response:abnormal thyroglobulin or rising anti-thyroglobulin antibody

levels in the absence of localizable disease• Structural incomplete response:

persistent or newly identified loco-regional or distant metastases

• Indeterminate response:non-specific biochemical or structural findings which cannot be

confidently classified as either benign or malignant. This includes patients with stable or declining anti-thyroglobulin antibody levels without definitive structural evidence of disease

Response to Treatment

ATA Risk Excellent Incomplete Biochemical

Incomplete Structural

Indeterminate

Low 86-91% 11-19% 2-6% 12-29%

Intermediate 57-63% 21-22% 19-28% 8-23%

High 14-16% 16-18% 67-75% 0-4%

Postoperative Risk Assessment

• Recommendation 49– Initial recurrence risk estimates should be

continually modified during follow-up, because the risk of recurrence and disease specific mortality can change over time as a function of the clinical course of the disease and the response to therapy (Strong/Low)

Postoperative Radioactive Iodine Therapy

Decision for RAI Therapy

• 2009 guidelines recommended postop RAI therapy mainly on the basis of tumour pathology (esp size)

• Postoperative disease status is an important consideration

• No RCTs comparing strategies for RAI therapy decision making

Decision for RAI Therapy - Tg

• Tg reaches nadir 3-4 weeks postop• Level influenced by amount of residual thyroid cancer

and/or normal thyroid tissue• Postop Tg is independent predictor or

persistent/recurrent diseases– risk increases as Tg increases

• Can also predict success of RAI ablation and mortality risk

• Uncertain what Tg level (stim or non-stim) should prompt therapy

Postop Tg in Risk Assessment

• Low risk patients, Tg < 1 ng/ml confirms low risk status

• Intermediate risk patients, Tg < 1 ng/ml is reassuring, but does not completely rule out small mets

• Postop Tg > 10-30 ng/ml increase likelihood of poor outcomes

• Thus, postop Tg may be useful to select low/intermediate risk patients for RAI therapy, but unlikely to alter decision in high risk patients

Decision for Adjuvant Rx

• Recommendation 50 (NEW)A. Postop disease status should be considered when

deciding additional therapy (Strong/Low)B. Postop Tg can be helpful is assessing persisting

disease/remnant and predicting recurrence (Strong/Moderate)

C. Optimal Tg cut-off to guide decision-making for RAI therapy not known (No rec/Insuff)

D. Postop RAI scan may be useful to determine extent of remnant, or if results would alter treatment decision/dose used (Weak/Low)

Postop RAI

• Recommendation 51 (CHANGED)A. RAI remnant ablation not routinely recommended for ATA

low risk (Weak/Low)B. RAI remnant ablation not routinely recommended for

unifocal papillary microca (if no other adverse features) (Strong/Moderate)

C. RAI remnant ablation not routinely recommended for multifocal papillary microca (if no other adverse features) (Weak/Low)

D. RAI should be considered in ATA intermediate risk (Weak/Low)

E. RAI is recommended in ATA high risk (Strong/Moderate)

Postop RAI

• Recommendation 52 (NEW)– The role of molecular testing in guiding postop RAI

has yet to be established (No rec/Insuff)

RAI (Dx or Rx) – Preparation

• Recommendation 53 (Slightly CHANGED)A. If using thyroid hormonal withdrawal, LT4 should

be stopped for 3-4 weeks, with/without T3 in initial weeks. Measure TSH prior to giving RAI (Strong/Mod)

B. Goal TSH > 30 generally adopted, but there is uncertainty relating optimum level and improvement in outcomes (Weak/Low)

rhTSH (Thyrogen) for RAI Rx?

• Recommendation 54 (CHANGED)A. rhTSH acceptable for low/intermediate risk

patients without extensive LN involvement (T1-3, N0/x/1a, M0) (Strong/Mod)

B. rhTSH may be considered in intermediate risk with extensive LNs without distant mets (Weak/Low)

C. Cannot recommend rhTSH in high risk patients (No rec/Insuff)

D. Consider rhTSH in any risk patient with co-morbidity that precludes withdrawal (Strong/Low)

RAI Rx Dosing – 2009 Guidelines

• RECOMMENDATION 36– The minimum activity (30–100 mCi) necessary to

achieve successful remnant ablation should be utilized, particularly for low-risk patients. Recommendation rating: B

• RECOMMENDATION 37– If residual microscopic disease is suspected or

documented, or if there is a more aggressive tumor histology (e.g., tall cell, insular, columnar cell carcinoma), then higher activities (100–200 mCi) may be appropriate. Recommendation rating: C

RAI Rx Dosing – 2015 Guidelines

• Recommendation 55 (CHANGED)– If RAI remnant ablation is performed after total

thyroidectomy for low/intermediate risk with lower risk features (ie. low volume central neck LNs with no other known gross residual disease nor any other adverse features), low administered dose activity of approximately of 30 mCi (1.1 GBq) is generally favored over higher administered dose activities (Strong/High)

RAI Rx Dosing – 2015 Guidelines

• Recommendation 56 (CHANGED)– When RAI is used for initial adjuvant therapy to

treat suspected/documented microscopic residual disease in intermediate/high risk patients, administered activities of 30-150 mCi are generally recommended (in absence of known distant metastases). Routine use of higher administered activities in this setting does not appear to reduce structural disease recurrence for T3 and N1 disease (Weak/Low)

Low iodine diet for RAI?

• Recommendation 57– Consider low iodine diet 1-2 weeks before RAI

(Weak/Low)

Posttherapy Scan?

• Recommendation 58– A post-therapy whole-body scan +/- SPECT-CT is

recommended after RAI post ablation/treatment (Strong/Mod)

Initial TSH Suppression

• Recommendation 59 (CHANGED)A. High risk patients, initial TSH suppression < 0.1 mU/L is

recommended. (Strong/Mod)B. Intermediate risk patients, initial TSH suppression 0.1- 0.5

mU/L is recommended. (Weak/Low)C. Low risk post ablation patients with low Tg levels, TSH 0.1–0.5

mU/L, while continuing surveillance for recurrence. Similar for non-ablated low risk patients (but Tg levels may higher) and continued surveillance for recurrence applies. (Weak/Low)

D. Low risk patients +/- RAI with undetectable Tg levels, TSH 0.5–2 mU/L, while continuing surveillance for recurrence (Weak/Low)

Adjuvant Therapy

• Recommendation 60– No role for routine external beam radiation

(Strong/Low)• Recommendation 61– No role for routine systemic adjuvant therapy

(Strong/Low)

Long Term DTC Follow-up

Role of Tg During Follow-up• Recommendation 62 (CHANGED)

A. Tg should be measured by assay that calibrated against the CRM457 standard. Ideally, Tg should be assessed longitudinally in the same lab using the same assay. Tg Abs should be quantitatively assessed with every Tg measurement (Strong/High)

B. During initial follow-up, serum Tg on LT4 should be measured every 6-12 months. More frequent Tg measurements may be appropriate for high risk patients (Strong/Moderate)

C. In low/intermediate risk patients with excellent response, utility of subsequent Tg testing is not established. Time interval between serum Tg measurements can be lengthened to at least 12-24 months (Weak/Low)

D. TSH should be measured at least every 12 months in all patients on thyroid hormone therapy (Strong/Moderate)

E. High risk patients and all patients without excellent response should have Tg measured at least every 6-12 months for several years. (Weak/Low)

Role of Tg During Follow-up

• Recommendation 63 (CHANGED)A. Low/intermediate risk post ablation patients with negative

cervical US, serum Tg should be measured at 6-18 months on LT4 in a sensitive Tg assay or after TSH stimulation to verify excellent response (Strong/Moderate)

B. Repeat TSH stimulated Tg testing is not recommended for low/intermediate risk patients with an excellent response (Weak/Low)

C. Subsequent stim Tg testing may be considered in patients with an indeterminate or biochemical/structural incomplete response after additional therapies or spontaneous decline in Tg values to reassess response to therapy (Weak/Low)

Tg In Follow-up of Non-ablated Patients

• Recommendation 64– Periodic Tg measurements on LT4 and neck US should

be considered during follow-up in • Patients with less than total thyroidectomy • Patients post total thyroidectomy but not RAI ablation

– Specific cutoff Tg level that optimally distinguish normal residual thyroid tissue from persistent thyroid cancer are unknown

– Rising Tg values over time are suspicious for growing thyroid tissue or cancer.

(Strong/Low)

Cervical US During Follow-up• Recommendation 65

A. Following surgery, cervical US should be performed at 6–12 months and then periodically, depending on the patient’s risk for recurrent disease and Tg status (Strong/Moderate)

B. If a positive result would change management, US suspicious LNs > 8-10 mm in the smallest diameter should be biopsied with Tg needle washout measurement (Strong/Low)

C. Suspicious LNs < 8-10 mm in smallest diameter may be followed without biopsy with consideration for FNA/intervention if there is growth or if the node threatens vital structures (Weak/Low)

D. Low-risk patients post ablation with negative cervical US, low Tg (<0.2 ng/ml on LT4 or <1ng/ml after TSH-stimulation) can be followed primarily with clinical examination and Tg measurements on thyroid hormone replacement (Weak/Low)

Diagnostic RAI WBS During Follow-up

• Recommendation 66– After first post RAI treatment WBS, low/intermediate

risk excellent response to therapy do not require routine diagnostic WBS during follow-up (Strong/Moderate)

• Recommendation 67A. Diagnostic WBS 6–12 months after ablation can be

useful in the follow-up of patients with high or intermediate risk (higher risk features) of persistent (Strong/Low)

B. SPECT/CT radioiodine imaging is preferred over planar (Weak/Moderate)

TSH Suppression During Follow-up

• Recommendation 70 (CHANGED)A. Patients with structural/biochemical incomplete response, TSH <

0.1 mU/L indefinitely if no contraindications. (Strong/Moderate)B. Patients with excellent/indeterminate response, but presented

with high risk disease, consider maintaining TSH 0.1–0.5 mU/L for up to 5 years after which degree of TSH suppression can by reduced (Weak/Low)

C. Patients with excellent/indeterminate response, especially those at low risk for recurrence, TSH 0.5–2 mU/L (Strong/Moderate)

D. Patients not ablated, with excellent/indeterminate response (normal neck US and low/undetectable suppressed Tg, and Tg or TgAb that are not rising) TSH 0.5–2 mU/L (Weak/Low)

Low Risk

Low Risk

IntermediateRisk

High Risk

Take Home Messages

• 2015 ATA guidelines have made significant changes based on new studies

• Modified initial risk stratification +/- Tg may guide decision for RAI treatment

• Shift towards less aggressive treatment– Less surgery for low/intermediate risk patients– More selective RAI use and lower dosing– Less aggressive TSH suppression

• Dynamic risk assessments may guide further follow-up and treatment

QUESTIONS?