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Radioactive Iodine Therapy for Thyroid Cancer

Radioactive Iodine Therapy
Radioactive Iodine Therapy

Radioactive Iodine Therapy can be used to treat hyperthyroidism if drug treatment is not effective. If the drugs cannot control the increased levels of hormones in the blood, or if the patient is suffering from side effects caused by medication, Radioactive Iodine Therapy can be an alternative.

Radioactive Iodine Therapy – A radioactive isotope of iodine (I-131) accumulates in a normal body tissue but also differentiated as thyroid carcinomas with a storage capacity-131st. The thyroid gland is located within the vicinity of important structures in the neck, blood vessels, nerves and parathyroids glands. The surgeon needs to be careful when removing the gland and after surgery, a number of cells are usually left which are the normal thyroid tissue in the neck. A month after surgery (which is the period required for enough growth of the thyrotropin (TSH) hormone); the normal thyroid tissue accumulates iodine. Usually there are annual follow-up appointments. .

The absolute contraindication to the use of I-131 during pregnancy and lactation prevents severe form of ocular symptoms, i.e. such as Exophthalmoses.

The side effects of Radioactive Iodine Therapy includes nausea, vomiting, fatigue, headache, even less transient reduction of blood cells, i.e., bone marrow suppression, inflammation of the salivary glands, pneumonitis (due to the retention of iodine in the lungs in patients with pulmonary metastases), transient decreases in ovarian function, reduction in sperm count and increase in the number of mutations (which are advised to control conception 6-12 months after administration of radiation therapy).

Radioactive Iodine Therapy is applied to the diffused hyperthyroidism if drug treatment ins’t effective. If the drugs cannot control the increased levels of hormones in the blood, or if the patient is suffering from the side effects caused by the medication,the Radioactive Iodine Therapy can be an alternative.

Iodine (I-131) is now used more than surgical treatments because it is highly economical, practical and causes no complications.

Pregnancy Radioactive Iodine Therapy

Pregnancy and Lactation

The absolute contraindication to the use of I-131 during pregnancy and lactation can prevent severe forms of ocular symptoms, i.e. such as Exophthalmos. The treatment is particularly suitable for elderly patients, and especially for those who have  heart disease. The base makes the specific accumulation of radioactive iodine in the thyroid gland and radiation-induced damage which reduces the function of the thyroid follicular cells. The therapeutic dose is usually based on providing fixed dose per gram of tissue thyroid or a node which is assessed by ultrasound. This depends on the 24-hour accumulation of radioactive iodine in the thyroid gland, which is normally measured in patients.

 

The dose calculation is figured out through a  complicated method based on the absorbed radiation dose to the thyroid gland. The dose in patients with toxic adenoma of the thyroid and toxic thyroid nodule is larger than the doses in patient with diffuse hyperthyroidism. The thyroid functions properly after therapy is achieved which is usually between 1-3 months. However, the application of high doses increases the incidence of hypothyroidism and therefore reduces thyroid function. Hypothyroidism stops after I-131 dose has been administered to the patient after medical and surgical treatments; this could happen after a prolonged period. As a result of the natural course of the disease, patients need their hormone levels in serum for proper monitoring for the timely introduction of substitution therapy, i.e. thyroid hormone replacements.

Relapses

As soon as a patient begins to notice relapses, Radioactive Iodine Therapy should be repeated. Complications of treatment are rare and so far, there is no evidence of increasing the incidence of thyroid cancer, leukemia and genetic mutations in patients treated with radioactive iodine.

 

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