The role of thyroglobulin doubling time in differentiated thyroid cancer: a meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: In patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), recurrences may occur in up to 20% and may have a fatal outcome in 10% of cases. Thyroglobulin doubling time (Tg-DT) values may contribute to predict response to treatment and disease recurrence in DTC patients. This study aimed to address the following questions: (1) Are Tg-DT values indicative of response to treatments in patients with DTC (i.e. ’treatment monitoring’)?; (2) Is Tg-DT predictive of 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (2-[18F]FDG) PET/CT in patients with DTC?; (3) Are Tg-DT values predictive of DTC prognosis (i.e. ‘prediction’)? DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: Methodology was registered in the PROSPERO database (CRD42021257947). A systematic search was carried out in PubMed, Web Of Science, and Scopus from June to August 2021 without time and language restrictions. RESULTS: Eleven studies were included for a total of 1421 patients. Positive association between Tg-DT < 1 year and recurrence or disease progression was observed. Tg-DT was found to be related with (2-[18F]FDG) PET/CT results in patients with DTC. The area under the curve was 0.86 (95% CI: 0.83–0.89), sensitivity was 0.84 (0.64;0.94), specificity was 0.71 (0.35; 0.92), DOR was 13.1 (3.1; 55.0), LR+ was 2.9 (1.0; 8.1), LR− was 0.22 (0.1; 0.5). For patients with Tg-DT < 1 year (n = 247), the survival risk ratio was 2.09 (95% CI: 1.49; 2.94). CONCLUSIONS: Tg-DT values are valuable in predicting response to treatment and disease recurrence in patients with DTC, as well as their overall survival. In addition, Tg-DT significantly increases the detection rate of 2-[(18)F]-FDG PET/CT.