Patients with papillary thyroid cancer submitted to total thyroidectomy followed by remnant ablation with (131)I in whom whole-body scanning at the time of ablation (WBS-ablation) did not reveal metastases and who had elevated Tg after initial therapy were selected. Included in the study were patients with basal Tg>2 ng/mL or Tg>5 ng/mL after stimulation with recombinant human thyrotropin or Tg>10 ng/mL after levothyroxine withdrawal for 4 weeks. All patients were first investigated by neck US and chest CT