Levothyroxine

Aggressive papillary thyroid carcinoma variants appeared associated with a wide range of survival outcomes, suggesting greater emphasis should be placed on tailored treatment approaches for patients with histologically and prognostically distinct subtypes, according to study results published in JAMA Oncology.

Adults with hypothyroidism taking levothyroxine therapy may derive a greater benefit when taking the drug at bedtime vs. before breakfast, according to findings published in Clinical Endocrinology.

Physicians who treat patients with hypothyroidism should opt for levothyroxine monotherapy in most patients, and when treating patients with Graves’ disease, radioactive iodine is the optimal treatment option, according to a summary of new National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, or NICE, guidelines published in The BMJ.

In a large prospective cohort of postmenopausal women, those who had ever had hypothyroidism — whether treated with levothyroxine or not — were less likely to develop breast cancer than those without hypothyroidism, and the relationship was more pronounced among those who did not also use menopausal hormone therapy, according to findings published in Thyroid.