The treatment of
thyroid cancer has promising prospects, mostly through the use of surgical or radioactive
iodine therapy. However, some
thyroid cancers, such as progressive radioactive
iodine-refractory differentiated
thyroid carcinoma, are not remediable with conventional types of treatment. In these cases, a treatment regimen with multi-
kinase inhibitors is advisable. Unfortunately, clinical trials have shown a large number of patients, treated with multi-
kinase inhibitors, being adversely affected by
hypertension. This means that treatment of
thyroid cancer with multi-
kinase inhibitors prolongs progression-free and overall survival of patients, but a large number of patients experience
hypertension as an adverse effect of the treatment. Whether the prolonged lifetime is sufficient to develop sequelae from
hypertension is unclear, but late-stage
cancer patients often have additional diseases, which can be complicated by the presence of
hypertension. Since the exact mechanisms of the rise of
hypertension in these patients are still unknown, the only available strategy is treating the symptoms. More studies determining the pathogenesis of
hypertension as a side effect to
cancer treatment as well as outcomes of dose management of
cancer drugs are necessary to improve future
therapy options for
hypertension as an adverse effect to
cancer therapy with multi-
kinase inhibitors.