Hats off to those investigators that continue to try to improve treatment of those people with thyroid cancer that is no longer responding to standard treatment or surgery and radioiodine.

Recent reports of trials of Pazopanib and Lenvatinib clearly show that the search for effective new treatments for progressive thyroid cancer is continuing at pace, but the results remain a fair bit short of what we are all hoping for. That said, progress in the cancer world is often made in little steps, and as long as you don't stop, even someone taking little steps will eventually reach their destination.
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The new American Thyroid Association guidelines suggesting how to manage thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer have just been published. They are long-awaited, and welcome.

At over 400 pages long, and citing more than 1000 references, its a huge piece of work. Despite its size and weight, the guidelines have kept a strong common-sense feel, with many of the recommendations advocating a more conservative approach than in the past, reflecting that many thyroid cancers have a relatively favourable prognosis.

I particularly like the emphasis on re-staging people, based on how their disease does (or doesn't) progress with time. This allows the vast majority of patients (who are going to do very well) to have a more relaxed TSH target, and to hopefully help them to move through and beyond their thyroid cancer experience.

Well done the ATA!

The question of whether the Fukushima nuclear power plant tsunami disaster has or will cause more cases of thyroid cancer remains unanswered, but a recent report may be evidence of a small tide of such cancers. 
Its now getting coverage in the mainstream press .
The report looks far from conclusive as yet, with issues such as timing (perhaps cases appearing a bit earlier than expected after the exposure to radioactivity), and the lack of data on what exposure the patients had to radioactivity, but its the first signs of a potential effect.