Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Effect of the combination of radioiodine therapy and euthyrox in BRAF-mutated thyroid cancer post-total thyroidectomy

Qiang Fu¹ , Xueyang Huang¹, Yu Yang², Yalan Huang¹

¹Department of Surgery, University Town Hospital, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 541000, China; ²Department of Pathology, University Town Hospital, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 541000, China.

For correspondence:- Qiang Fu Email: fqiangs1981@163.com

Accepted: 27 July 2024 Published: 31 August 2024

Citation: Fu Q, Huang X, Yang Y, Huang Y. Effect of the combination of radioiodine therapy and euthyrox in BRAF-mutated thyroid cancer post-total thyroidectomy. Trop J Pharm Res 2024; 23(8):1353-1358 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v23i8.16

© 2024 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of combining radioiodine therapy with euthyrox in treating thyroid cancer with BRAF gene mutation following total thyroidectomy (TT).

Methods: This retrospective study analyzed records of 98 differentiated thyroid cancer (TC) patients with BRAF gene mutation who underwent TT between February 2018 and January 2020 at Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China. The patients were randomized into control (46 patients) and study groups (53 patients). Control group received euthyrox, while the study group received euthyrox in addition to radioiodine following total thyroidectomy. Efficacy, thyroid function before and after treatment, incidence of adverse reactions, and 3-year recurrence rates were evaluated.

Results: The study group showed significantly higher overall response rate (ORR) compared to control group (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in thyrotropin (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4), and free triiodothyronine (FT3) levels between the groups before treatment (p > 0.05). After treatment, both groups exhibited significant changes in thyroid function, with decreased TSH, and increased FT4 and FT3 levels (p < 0.05). Post-treatment TSH levels were significantly lower while FT4 and FT3 levels were significantly higher in the study group compared to control group (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Combining radioiodine therapy and Euthyrox following total thyroidectomy enhances therapeutic outcomes in patients with BRAF-mutated TC, improves thyroid function and reduces recurrent risk without increasing adverse reactions. Further studies will aim to expand the sample size and stratify patients by severity to comprehensively validate these findings.

Keywords: Total thyroidectomy, Radioiodine therapy, Euthyrox, BRAF gene mutation, Thyroid cancer