# 2015 American Thyroid Association management guidelines for adult patients with thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-ata-2015-thyroid-nodules-dtc-haugen-thyroid-2016/  
OnCo record `paper-ata-2015-thyroid-nodules-dtc-haugen-thyroid-2016` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The 2015 American Thyroid Association guideline moved differentiated thyroid cancer towards less treatment: lobectomy rather than total thyroidectomy for many low-risk cancers, selective rather than routine radioactive iodine, and active surveillance for small papillary cancers.

## Summary

Comprehensive guideline covering evaluation of thyroid nodules, ultrasound risk stratification, molecular testing, extent of surgery, risk stratification for recurrence, radioactive iodine indications, TSH suppression, follow-up, and management of recurrent and metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer including kinase inhibitors.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-17
- Journal: Thyroid
- Year: 2016
- DOI: 10.1089/thy.2015.0020
- Authors: Haugen BR, Alexander EK, Bible KC, et al.
- What it means: The follicular and papillary thyroid cancer pages' recommendations for lobectomy, selective iodine and surveillance of microcarcinoma follow this guideline.
- Caveats: Under revision; ESTIMABL2 and IoN have since supported omitting iodine in low-risk disease.

## Sources

- Thyroid 2016: https://doi.org/10.1089/thy.2015.0020
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26462967/

## Connected records

- cancers: [Follicular thyroid cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/follicular-thyroid-cancer/), [Papillary thyroid cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/papillary-thyroid-cancer/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/paper-ata-2015-thyroid-nodules-dtc-haugen-thyroid-2016.json