Not all thyroid cancer patients who receive a thyroidectomy require radioactive iodine, but for those whose cancer maybe more aggressive and spread beyond the thyroid area, often radioactive iodine (RAI) is protocol. 

RAI treatment may vary depending on the hospital.   For example, in this interview you hear protocol for RAI at Cedars Sinai. 

In this interviews, Dr. Alan Waxman explains what occurs leading up to, during, and after RAI.   Topics discussed include:

• If staying at the hospital after taking RAI, how long is the stay required?
• Should you go home after RAI?
• What is the benefit of staying overnight at the hospital when receiving RAI?
• Worldwide trends toward prescribing lower doses of RAI.
• Is there risk in RAI causing leukemia?
• The importance of ultrasound prior to administering RAI of done.
• The need to stimulate TSH prior to administering RAI.
• Withdrawal versus injections in raising TSH levels.
• Damage to salivary glands. 

Alan D. Waxman, MD is Director of Nuclear Medicine at the S. Mark Taper Foundation Imaging Center at Cedars Sinai. He is also a member of the Saul and Joyce Brandman Breast Center – A Project of Women’s Guild and the Thyroid Cancer Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He is a clinical professor of radiology at Los Angeles County + University of Southern California (USC) Medical Center. Dr. Waxman’s participation in research has led to the development of many new imaging techniques and equipment adaptations. A leading expert in nuclear medicine imaging, Dr. Waxman has directed efforts to develop innovations in whole-body tumor imaging using new and existing radiolable compounds. Dr. Waxman is an active member and officer of the Society of Nuclear Medicine. He has authored numerous publications and lectured extensively throughout the world. Dr. Waxman is a graduate of the USC Medical School, where he completed his postgraduate training. He also completed a clinical research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health.

NOTES:

Dr. Alan Waxman

Salivary gland toxicity after radioiodine therapy for thyroid cancer.

Blog by Philip James

American Thyroid Association

RELATED EPISODES

34: What Happens When Thyroid Cancer Travels to the Lungs? with Dr. Fabian Pitoia from the Hospital of University of Buenos Aires

30: Thyroid Cancer and Children with Dr. Andrew Bauer from the Perelman School of Medicine, U of Pennsylvania