Abstract: Surgery, selective radioiodine therapy and thyroid stimulating hormone suppressive therapy are the standard treatment modalities for differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). After therapy, most DTC patients could get good prognosis. However, some patients with distant metastasis lose the ability to concentrate radioiodine at early time or during the treatment, and develop radioiodine-refractory DTC (RAIR-DTC). These patients progress quickly and have high mortality. Looking for effective treatments for these patients has been the hot spot in research of thyroid carcinoma. In this paper, we summarized the recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of RAIR-DTC, hoping to early identify these patients and buy time for early intervention of other possible beneficial treatments such as targeted therapy and radiotherapy.

Key words: Thyroid cancer, Radioiodine, Refractory, Progress