PURPOSE: As the most frequent and specific genetic alteration in papillary 
thyroid carcinoma (PTC), BRAF(V600E) has an intimate relationship with more 
invasive tumour and higher postoperative recurrence risk in PTC patients. We 
investigate the effect of radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy on the clinical 
outcome in PTC patients with the BRAF(V600E) mutation without distant 
metastases.
METHODS: This retrospective study included PTC 228 patients without distant 
metastases who underwent total or near-total thyroidectomy and RAI treatment in 
our hospital from January 2011 to July 2014. The BRAF(V600E) status of the 
primary lesions was determined and the patients were divided into two groups 
according to the presence of the mutation. Serological and imaging data were 
collected at a median follow-up of 2.34 years after RAI administration. 
Suppressed and stimulated thyroglobulin (Tg), Tg antibody, diagnostic whole-body 
scintigraphy, and other imaging examinations were used to assess clinical 
outcome, which was defined as excellent response, indeterminate response, 
biochemical incomplete response and structural incomplete response.
RESULTS: The BRAF(V600E) mutation was observed in 153 of the 228 patients 
(67.1 %). The clinicopathological features did not differ between the 
BRAF(V600E) mutatation and wild-type groups except age at diagnosis (P = 0.000), 
tumour size (P = 0.023) and TNM stage (P = 0.003). Older age and more advanced 
TNM stage were prevalent in the BRAF(V600E) mutatation group, whereas tumours 
were slightly larger in the BRAF(V600E) wild-type group. The response to RAI 
therapy was evaluated in both the entire series and the patients with a high 
recurrence risk, and no significant difference in response was found between the 
BRAF(V600E) mutatation and the wild-type groups (P = 0.881 and P = 0.851, 
respectively).
CONCLUSION: The clinical response to timely postsurgical RAI therapy is not 
inferior in BRAF(V600E) mutation PTC patients without distant metastases, which 
suggests that RAI therapy might improve the general clinical outcome in this 
patient group.