Thyroid carcinoma is diagnosed in about 22,000 people each year in the United States
[
[1]
]. More than 90% of thyroid carcinomas, including papillary and follicular cancers,
are well-differentiated. Although thyroid carcinomas are among the most curable cancers,
some patients are at high risk of recurrent disease or even death; life-long follow-up
is required. Thyroid tissue is the only source of circulating thyroglobulin and serial
monitoring of serum thyroglobulin is a vital tool to detect residual or recurrent
cancer. Use of serum thyroglobulin as a highly specific tumor marker for the management
of differentiated thyroid carcinoma requires an appreciation of the assay's biologic
and analytical limitations. This article focuses on the pathophysiology of thyroglobulin
and on the methodology and clinical usefulness of thyroglobulin measurements.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Footnotes
☆Funding support by VA Merit Review 596-0007 and NCI Grant #K24CA82116 (to KBA).
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© 2004 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
