# Need for life long monitoring with Thyca patients



## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Just passing this along...I was kinda sorta under the impression that the critical window was the first five years. Not that monitoring would stop, necessarily, but that it would be less...critical. According to this article, that doesn't seem to be the case:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/802822

_Recurrence rates were 16% at 5 years, 20% at 10 years, 27% at 20 years, 30% at 30 years, and 33% at 40 years.

Although the majority of recurrences and PTC-related deaths occurred in the first decade (68% and 58%, respectively),11% of all recurrences and 17% of all PTC-related deaths occurred more than 20 years after the initial diagnosis, with 4% and 13%, respectively, occurring more than 30 years out._

...

_Dr. Grogan told Medscape Medical News: "I think the biggest message from our data for physicians is the idea that currently we cannot accurately predict which PTC patients will survive or who will [suffer from recurrence]. Because of this uncertainty, the physicians who primarily care for these patients should have a mechanism in place to allow these patients to be followed for the rest of their life so that recurrences can be identified early and treated appropriately."_


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Well, that stinks for us!

I couldn't access the article, but I appreciate you sharing the quick summary. Very good to know.


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