Management of Adverse Events During Treatment for Advanced Thyroid Cancer

Abstract

Background:

The management of advanced thyroid cancer has rapidly evolved as several multikinase, and gene-specific inhibitors have substantially improved survival for patients with most types of thyroid cancer. Optimizing management of the treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) from these medications is important to improve quality of life and outcomes for patients with thyroid cancer. This narrative review discusses common and clinically significant TRAEs of treatments for thyroid cancer and effective management approaches.

Summary:

Published literature was reviewed to summarize available information on the incidence of TRAEs with medications used to treat thyroid cancer and management approaches for these TRAEs. There are common TRAEs across many treatments for advanced thyroid cancer including fatigue, hypertension, gastrointestinal toxicities, rashes, and hand-foot syndrome. Additionally, several other TRAEs with thyroid cancer treatments are significant because of their frequency with specific medications (e.g., pyrexia syndrome) or their severity (e.g., thromboembolic events and cardiac impairment). Data from clinical trials and real-world data along with expert guidelines and insights from experienced clinicians can guide management approaches for many of these TRAEs.

Conclusions:

The toxicity profiles are well established for treatments for advanced thyroid cancer, there are evidence-based management approaches for many commonly encountered scenarios. Following these approaches to optimizing management of TRAEs can improve the quality of life and outcomes for patients with thyroid cancer.