Research

Hormonal

Administration of recombinant human TSH (rTSH) significantly increases FDG PET detectability and lesion-to-background ratios in patients with well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma and negative radioiodine scans compared to TSH-suppressive therapy.

For patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancer who have detectable tumor markers but negative standard scans, using recombinant TSH (rTSH) before an FDG PET scan significantly improves the ability to find hidden disease compared to standard scans done while on thyroid hormone suppression. This method avoids the need to stop thyroid medication, which causes hypothyroidism.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
rTSH stimulation improves the detectability of occult thyroid metastases with FDG PET, compared with scans performed on TSH suppression.
Gail A. Laughlin et al. · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 2004

Why this rating

Small sample size (n=7) limits statistical power, though the within-subject design controls for individual variability.

Source

The Prospective Association of Serum Insulin-Like Growth Factor I (IGF-I) and IGF-Binding Protein-1 Levels with All Cause and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality in Older Adults: The Rancho Bernardo Study

Gail A. Laughlin et al. · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 2004

DOI 10.1210/jc.2003-030967

randomized_crossover · n=7Cited 371×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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