Multimodal strategies for diagnosing and treating thyroid cancer: Advances in basic and clinical research

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common type of thyroid cancer, and its incidence has been increasing recently. Although the 5-year survival rate for PTC remains stable, the prognosis for medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and the highly aggressive, rare anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is less favorable, underscoring the need for improved risk assessment. Additionally, there are still no effective treatments for MTC and ATC, emphasizing the urgency of developing personalized therapies. In this context, creating more precise diagnostic and treatment methods is essential. This review highlights recent advances in innovative diagnostic and therapeutic technologies for thyroid cancer and compares them with traditional approaches. It particularly focuses on how combining various radionuclides with positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) facilitates innovative diagnostic and treatment solutions. The review also explores optical imaging for early tumor detection and real-time therapy guidance, as well as nanotechnology's role in transforming light into heat and free radicals—driving progress in both medicine and nanomaterials science. Moreover, it discusses RNA-based therapies as a promising, emerging approach that broadens treatment options for patients with thyroid cancer. Additionally, the review introduces intraoperative fluorescence navigation technology, which can reduce surgical complications and effectively integrate diagnosis and treatment.