I had a total thyroidectomy due to suspicious nodules. the patho report showed a small 8mm cancer. will i need to do a pet scan yearly for 5 yrs?

Ideal: Thyroid cancer once removed will have very low recurrence rate , is best way but expensive way to find the recurrence is by pet scan . Some on with your description do , don't have to worry about recurrence , but worry about taking correct dose of thyroid hormone replacement.

Maybe all done.: You had a total thyroidectomy for a microcarcinoma. Depending upon what the pathology showed, you are done. You can be followed by an endocrinologist who will be able to use a blood test, serum thyroglobulin, to screen for residual/recurrent disease. However, you should understand the nature of your cancer and any other findings in your thyroid outside of the cancer for best follow up care.

No...: After total thyroidectomy, patients are often monitored via blood tests which measure thyroglobulin levels. If thyroglobulin levels rise, this means that there could be recurrence. If iodine scan is done and does not show anything in the presence of high thyroglobulin, pet scan is indicated. Often thyroid cancers that show up on iodine scan don't show up on pet and vice versa.