What to tell patients about radioiodine therapy

doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7562.271

BMJ 2006;333:271-272 (5 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7562.271

Editorial

What to tell patients about radioiodine therapy

Avoid close contact with other people, don't try to conceive,and take your radiation certificate when flying

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In this week's BMJ Gangopadhyay and colleagues report the caseof an unfortunate patient who activated an airport radiationdetector six weeks after receiving radioiodine ¹³¹I therapyand was consequently subjected to intense examination and interrogation(p 293).¹ No clinical practice guidelines cover this type ofproblem. So, on current evidence, how should doctors advisepatients who are about to receive radioiodine therapy?

Each year radioiodine is administered to 10 000 people for hyperthyroidismin the UK.² After injection or ingestion, radioiodine initiallyconcentrates in the thyroid gland and then circulates throughthe bloodstream, with 80% excreted renally. While the radioactiveurine is stored in the bladder, until it is voided, the gonadsare irradiated: after an administered dose of 750 MBq of ¹³¹Ithe testes receive a radiation dose of 17-19 mGy and the ovaries28-31 mGy.³

To reduce the risk of any radioactive germ cells . . . [Full text of this article]

Daniel J Cuthbertson, clinical lecturer in diabetes and endocrinology

Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee DD1 9SY
(d.j.r.cuthbertson@dundee.ac.uk)

John Davidson, consultant in nuclear and general medicine

Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee DD1 9SY

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Triggering radiation alarms after radioiodine treatment: Kalyan Kumar Gangopadhyay, Francis Sundram, and Parijat De
BMJ 2006 333: 293-294. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]