PURPOSE: A prospective comparison was made between imaging with Tc-99m pertechnetate (Tc-99m) and Ioine-131 (I-131) for the detection of residual and metastatic tissue after total thyroidectomy in patients with well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma. MATERALS AND METHODS: Initially our patients had imaging with Tc-99m, followed by I-131 within 3 days. The study included 21 patients who had ablation with high dose of I-131 ranging from 100 mCi to 150 mCi. Planar and pinhole images were acquired for both Tc-99m and I-131. Diagnostic images of Tc-99m and I-131 were compared with post-therapy images. Degree of uptake on Tc-99m and I-131 images was scored by four point scale and compared. RESULTS: The results of the Tc-99m study were: 16 of 19 studies (84%) were positive on simple planar images, but 19 of 20 studies (95%) were positive on pinhole images. Conventional I-131 diagnostic imaging on the other hand showed that all studies (100%) were positive on both planar and pinhole images. There was a significant difference in degree of uptake between Tc-99m and I-131 planar images (p<0.05). Only one case of Tc-99m scintigraphy was negative on both planar and pinhole studies (false negative). There was no distant metastasis on the therapeutic I-131 images. CONCLUSION: Tc-99m scan using pinhole in certain clinical situations is an alternative to the I-131 scan in detecting thyroid or lymph node metastasis prior to the first ablative treatment after thyroidectomy for well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma.
Diagnostic Imaging ; Hand ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prospective Studies ; Radionuclide Imaging* ; Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m* ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms* ; Thyroidectomy

BACKGROUND: Progression note is a critical source in patient care. It is used to evaluate physician performance as well as the quality of clinical care. However, the majority of medical schools do not formally teach how to write progression notes. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to determine the impact of feedback education on the quality of the students' progression notes. METHODS: A static group-comparison design was used to determine the quality of progression notes written by 64 students. 31 students received feedback, but the other 33 students did not. 219 patients' progression notes were selected for this study. Progression notes were blindly reviewed by the 3 faculty members. RESULTS: Progression notes from students who received feedback showed significantly higher scores than those students who did not received feedback(p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that feedback education in writing progression notes needs to be integrated to improve quality of the notes.
Education* ; Humans ; Patient Care ; Schools, Medical ; Students, Medical* ; Writing

PURPOSE: Hurthle cell carcinoma (HCC) of the thyroid gland is a rare disease that represents 3% of all thyroid carcinomas. HCC has been known as a more aggressive disease than the usual differentiated thyroid carcinoma. However, the biologic behavior and optimal treatment have come under considerable debate in recent years. This study was performed to evaluate the clinicopathologic features and treatment outcome of HCC. METHODS: From April 1986 to August 2006, 18 patients with HCC and 216 patients with pure follicular carcinoma (PFC) underwent thyroidectomy at our institutions with a mean follow-up of 114 (range: 6~253) months. The clinicopathologic characteristics and treatment outcome of each group were compared, and the prognostic factors for disease-free survival were analyzed. RESULTS: There were 14 women and 4 men with a mean age of 50 (range: 26~76) years. Compared with PFC patients, all of clinicopathologic features of HCC patients were different (gender, age, tumor size, multifocality, angioinvaion, invasion to adjacent structures, the subclassification and initial distant metastasis), but the high incidence of bilaterality was similar to the PFC patients (P<0.0001). The cause- specific survival (CSS) rates at 10 years were 83.4% in the HCC patients and 89.3% in the PFC patients (P=0.702). Older age (greater than 45) (P=0.0125) and initial distant metastasis (P<0.0001) in the HCC patients, and an older age (P<0.0001), male gender (P=0.0039), angioinvasion (P= 0.0122), invasion to adjacent structures (P<0.0001), a widely invasive type (P=0.004) and initial distant metastasis (P<0.0001) in the PCC patients were independent prognostic factors for survival. CONCLUSION: After accounting for important biologic behaviors, patients with HCC had similar clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis compared with that of the PFC patients. Therefore, HCC should be managed using the same treatment strategy as PFC.
Accounting ; Adenocarcinoma, Follicular ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Rare Diseases ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Thyroidectomy ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUND: Thyroidectomy has been a surgical procedure associated with a high incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), and conventional antiemetics cannot prevent PONV effectively. In this study, we compared the efficacy and safety of ondansetron 70 microgram/kg, droperidol 10 microgram/kg and combination of both drugs to placebo in the prevention of PONV. METHODS: Seventy-six patients undergoing thyroidectomy were randomized to receive placebo (Group I, n=20), ondansetron 70 microgram/kg (Group II, n=19), droperidol 10 microgram/kg (Group III, n=18) and combination of both drugs (Group IV, n=19). The effects of these regimens on the incidence and severity of PONV and adverse events were analyzed for the 0 to 1 hour and 1 to 24 hours postoperative periods. RESULTS: In the 0 to 1 hour postoperative periods, the incidence of symptom free (no nausea and retching or vomiting) paients were 60% for placebo, 68.4% for ondansetron (p>0.05 versus placebo group), 88.9% for droperidol (p<0.05 versus placebo group), and 94.7% for combination of both drugs (p<0.05 versus placebo and ondansetron group). In the 1 to 24 hours postoperative period, the incidence of symptom free patients were 35% for placebo, 52.6% for ondansetron (p>0.05 versus placebo group), 77.8% for droperidol (p<0.05 versus placebo group), and 78.9% for combination of both drugs (p<0.05 versus placebo group). Overall, during the first 24 hours postoperatively, the incidence of symptom free patients were 30% for placebo, 42.1% for ondansetron (p>0.05 versus placebo group), 77.8% for droperidol (p<0.05 versus placebo and ondansetron group), and 73.7% for combination of both drugs (p<0.05 versus placebo and ondansetron group). Also, there were no significant differences between the droperidol and droperidol plus ondansetron group. Among the side effects associated with antiemetics, headache and dizziness incidence was higher. CONCLUSIONS: Droperidol and combination of ondansetron plus droperidol was superior to placebo, and ondansetron for prevention of PONV during the first 24 hours postoperative period.
Antiemetics* ; Dizziness ; Droperidol* ; Headache ; Humans ; Incidence ; Nausea ; Ondansetron* ; Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting ; Postoperative Period ; Thyroidectomy*