Treatment of Recurrent Papillary and Follicular Thyroid Cancer

For information about the treatments listed below, see the Treatment Option Overview section.

Treatment of recurrent papillary and follicular thyroid cancer may include the following:

• Surgery to remove the tumor with or without radioactive iodine therapy.
• Radioactive iodine therapy when the cancer can be found only by a thyroid scan and cannot be felt during a physical exam.
• Targeted therapy with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (sorafenib, lenvatinib, cabozantinib, selpercatinib, pralsetinib, larotrectinib, or entrectinib).
• External radiation therapy or intraoperative radiation therapy as palliative therapy to relieve symptoms and improve the quality of life.
• Chemotherapy.
• A clinical trial of a targeted therapy.
• A clinical trial of immunotherapy.

Use our clinical trial search to find NCI-supported cancer clinical trials that are accepting patients. You can search for trials based on the type of cancer, the age of the patient, and where the trials are being done. General information about clinical trials is also available.