I 131 treatment required?

[webpatient123]

Hi,

I am male, around 32 years old. Two months back I was diagnosed with thyroid papillary carcinoma on my left lobe of thyroid. Based on doctor’s advice I underwent a surgery and got the entire thyroid removed.

The pathology report after surgery showed that it’s a small nodule less than a cm large and another hot spot in the same lobe.

A month after surgery, my endocrinologist advised me to go off synthroid for the radio active iodine (i-131) scan.

I have been off synthroid for the past 5 weeks and my tsh level is around 220.

I went in for the scan and they told me that I have an uptake of around .07% near the neck. Now they are advising me to go for I - 131 ablation treatment.

My dilemma is that should I go in for the ablation treatment even though my uptake is only 0.07%?

Will it really help? What are the possible side effects and does the advantage outweigh the disadvantages? How can I avoid the side effects?

Please help as soon as possible.

[georgia62]

hi, my doc said i need RAI for i'm hyper but i see a lot of people don't get better
i think better support my hyper than go on RAI unless i got used to my state. it looks that is  worst being hypo than hyper. i'm curious if there are persons who have hot nodules and are hyper, but refused any kind of treatment. what happend to them. if they can live without big problems as hypers, so i can too.

[Justin1967]

Those questions that you have asked are really for your doctor to decide.. I'm a little confused  why do you have to go in for another RAI so soon after the one you just had

My cancer was a very small 0.5mm so I  think RAI is like over-kill .. I would rather wait until I really really need it..
..

[GravesLady]

Thyroid surgeons tend to leave a portion of the thyroid intact, in order to avoid damaging parathyroid's or the nerve that runs through the thyroid that works the vocal chords. Even with the most meticulous surgery, small amounts of thyroid tissue are often left behind to help preserve the integrity of critical structures that lie beneath the lobes of the thyroid.   RAI is given to destroy the left behind tissue so cancer can't come back and attack the portion left.


The radioactive iodine (RAI) is used to kill any remaining cancer cells, its like a magnic seeking out and destroying thyroid cancer cells with little or no damage to other tissues in the body.
The iodine is simply taken up into the cell and the radiation within the radioactive iodine itself is released locally, delivering a lethal dose of radiation to the cancer cells. "oncolink"
One of the reasons for the overall cure rate for thyroid cancer is that RAI has the ability to "find" cancerous thyroid cells wherever they are in the body and destroy them. It also can find normal thyroid cells which might have the potential to become cancerous but are not yet and destroy them as well. "ThyCa"
RAI is automatically drawn to cancers. Radioactive iodine is like a magnic seeking out and destroying thyroid cancer cells with little or no damage to other tissues in the body.
RAI therapy has proven to be safe and well tolerated, and has even been able to cure cases of thyroid cancer that has already spread to the lungs.

The only effects I had from RAI for treatment of GD, was going from hyper to hypo until I was hypo enough to go on meds. The hypo side was the worse with depression.