Radioiodine therapy Vs. Cancer of the Thyroid Gland

Among malignant diseases , thyroid cancer is rare. Radioiodine therapy is a method of treating this type of cancer, consisting in the assignment of a radioactive isotope of iodine (I-131) to the patient as a medicine. This form of treatment is not dangerous for children or for adult patients.

Principles of radioiodine therapy  

Thyroid cells have the ability to accumulate iodine. It is on this feature that radio-therapy is based, which uses radioactive iodine instead of traditional iodine. The patient begins to take it after an iodine-restricting diet.

Cells of the affected thyroid gland, both healthy and cancerous, are irradiated from the inside with radioactive iodine and die. As a rule, patients do not suffer from any pain. In most cases, they easily tolerate radioiodine therapy. Complications after it appear very rarely, and the risk of developing other diseases in the future is extremely low. There is scientific evidence that the type of applied radiation does not pose a danger to other organs and systems of the body. The beta particles emitted by the isotope I-131 do not have a large penetrating ability, destroying the tissue only within 2 millimeters.

Perhaps you will be interested in the question: "After what time is the release of radioactive iodine from the body?" Most of this substance is excreted within two days after it enters the body. The half-life of the isotope I-131 is 8 days, so that by the end of this period no radioactive iodine remains in the patient's body. Thus, thyroid cancer can be successfully treated with radioiodine therapy without risk to health.

When do I use radioiodine?  

Radioiodine therapy is used only in the treatment of highly differentiated forms of thyroid cancer, which include papillary and follicular cancer. In this case, this therapy follows surgical intervention. Treatment of medullary and undifferentiated cancer does not involve the use of radioiodine therapy.

To this form of treatment resorted to in two cases with different purposes: therapeutic and preventive. In the first case, the tumor tissue is not completely removed after performing a non-radical surgery on the thyroid gland or on the cervical lymph nodes. There is also a situation where metastases spread to other organs, for example, to the lungs or bones, radioactive iodine produces a curative effect.

Radioiodine therapy has prophylactic goals when most of the tumor tissue in the lymph nodes or gland is removed, but there is a possibility of relapse due to the prevalence of the process.

Pregnancy and radioiodine therapy  

Pregnant women any treatment or diagnostic measure that uses radioactive substances is contraindicated.

Women planning pregnancy is strongly recommended not earlier than a year after the passage of radioiodine therapy or diagnosis using radioiodine. As for men, then you can start thinking about the baby in 2 months.

Dietary recommendations  

During the preparatory period before radioiodine therapy or diagnosis, the patient should follow a diet that is oriented towards eating low-iodine foods. As a result, cells after a while start to experience iodine hunger, so when radioactive iodine is introduced, they absorb it more actively.

This diet lasts 2 weeks before the introduction of radioactive iodine. The patient also must strictly adhere to it during the diagnosis and the entire course of treatment.