Advantages of Optical Imaging and Therapy in Diagnosis and Treatment of Thyroid Cancer

Purpose:
Thyroid cancer is one of the most common cancers in the endocrine system. Imaging
methods for diagnosis of thyroid cancer include ultrasound, computed tomography (CT) scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron
emission tomography (PET), and radioiodine scan. Several treatment methods including surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy have been used to treat thyroid cancer. On the other hand, optical imaging and therapy by use of light and its optical properties can be utilized for both diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer. This study aims to investigate the advantages of optical imaging and therapy in the thyroid cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Methods:
The search was done using the keywords of optical imaging, thyroid cancer, diagnosis, and treatment in PubMed, Google scholar, and ScienceDirect databases during 2018-2022 to identify appropriate studies.
Results:
Optical imaging is used in the diagnosis before, during, and after thyroid cancer treatment and increases diagnostic accuracy. Also, the optical property can be used to improve surgeons’ vision during tumor resection which leads to reduced wrong damage to the thyroid and surrounding tissues. The following advantages can be mentioned for optical imaging and therapy of thyroid cancer:

Non-invasive and non-ionizing radiation method leads to high safety
Real-time imaging and feedback capability lead to excellent controllability
Ease of   implementation  with   simple equipment
Cost efficiency

Conclusion:
Optical imaging and therapy can be considered as accurate and safe diagnostic and therapeutic method for thyroid cancer detection and treatment.
Keywords: Optical imaging, Thyroid cancer, Diagnosis, Treatment