Clinical and prognostic role of detection timing of distant metastases in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer

Purpose Distant metastases (DM) from DTC occur in 5–25% of cases and are correlated to lower survival; the prognostic significance of the temporal onset of DM is unclear. Our aim was to retrospectively analyze the prevalence of DM and to assess the prognostic role of the timing of manifestation of DM regarding the outcome.