Nucl Med Mol Imaging.  2006 Feb;40(1):51-52.

False-positive I-131 Scan by Contaminated Muffler in a Patient with Thyroid Carcinoma

• Seo HK
• Kim MW
• Jeong HJ
• Sohn MH

Abstract

A 39-year-old female patient who had undergone a total thyroidectomy for a papillary thyroid carcinoma underwent a whole body scan with I-131. The I-131 scan was performed 72 hours after administering 185 MBq (5 mCi) of an I-131 solution. The anterior image of the head, neck, and upper chest showed multiple areas of increased uptake in the mediastinal area considering of functional metastasis. However, radioactivity was not evident in the image taken after removing her clothes and muffler. The image obtained after placing the muffler on the pallet showed that the radioactivity was still present. It is well known that artifacts on an I-131 scan can be produced by styling hair sputum, drooling during sleep, chewing gum, and paper or a cloth handkerchief that is contaminated with the radioactive iodine from either perspiration or saliva. This activity might be mistaken for a functional metastasis. Therefore, it is essential that an image be obtained after removing the patient's clothes. In this study, artifacts due to a contaminated muffler on the I-131 scan were found. These mimicked a functional metastasis of the mediastinal area in a patient with a papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Keyword

I-131 scan; artifact; contamination; differentiated thyroid carcinoma

MeSH Terms

Adult
Artifacts
Chewing Gum
Female
Hair
Head
Humans
Iodine
Neck
Neoplasm Metastasis
Radioactivity
Saliva
Sialorrhea
Sputum
Thorax
Thyroid Gland*
Thyroid Neoplasms*
Thyroidectomy
Whole Body Imaging
Chewing Gum
Iodine