Clinical trials for progressive differentiated thyroid cancer: patient selection, study design, and recent advances.

Treatment of metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer is first based on the use of radioiodine and thyrotropin-suppressive thyroid hormone treatment. The recent availability of molecular-targeted therapies has lead to reconsideration of the treatment strategy in differentiated thyroid cancer patients with distant metastases who are resistant to radioiodine therapy. In those with progressive disease, treatment with kinase inhibitors should be offered preferably in the context of a prospective trial.