Research progress on the application value of ¹³¹I SPECT/CT in postoperative lymph node metastasis in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer

Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is the most common endocrine malignancy, which is prone to lymph node metastasis in the early stage. ¹³¹I whole body scan combining with SPECT/CT (called ¹³¹I SPECT/CT for short) can often detect residual and/or missed lymph node metastasis, which may change the postoperative staging and risk stratification of patients, affect subsequent surgical or ¹³¹I therapy options. ¹³¹I therapy is one of the effect methods for the treatment of postoperative cervical lymph node metastasis in DTC. Metastatic lymph nodes can be diagnosed by ¹³¹I SPECT/CT. This article reviews the application value of ¹³¹I SPECT/CT in the diagnosis and treatment of postoperative lymph node metastasis in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer.