Nucl Med Mol Imaging.  2008 Aug;42(4):301-306.

Determination of Therapeutic Dose of I-131 for First High Dose Radioiodine Therapy in Patients with Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: Comparison of Usefulness between Pathological Staging, Serum Thyroglobulin Level and Finding of I-123 Whole Body Scan

• Jeong HJ
• Lim ST
• Youn HJ
• Sohn MH

Abstract

PURPOSE: Recently, a number of patients needed total thyroidectomy and high dose radioiodine therapy (HD-RAI) get increased more. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether pathological staging (PS) and serum thyroglobulin (sTG) level could replace the diagnostic I-123 scan for the determination of therapeutic dose of HD-RAI in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer. Materials and
METHODS
Fifty eight patients (M:F=13;45, age 44.5+/-11.5 yrs) who underwent total thyroidectomy and central or regional lymph node dissection due to differentiated thyroid cancer were enrolled. Diagnostic scan of I-123 and sTG assay were also performed on off state of thyroid hormone. The therapeutic doses of I-131 (TD) were determined by the extent of uptakes on diagnostic I-123 scan as a gold standard. PS was graded by the criteria recommended in 6th edition of AJCC cancer staging manual except consideration of age. For comparison of the determination of therapeutic doses, PS and sTG were compared with the results of I-123 scan.
RESULTS
All patients were underwent HD-RAI. Among them, five patients (8.6%) were treated with 100 mCi of I-131, fourty three (74.1%) with 150 mCi, six (10.3%) with 180 mCi, three (5.2%) with 200 mCi, and one (1.7%) with 250 mCi, respectively. On the assessment of PS, average TDs were 154+/-25 mCi in stage I (n=9), 175+/-50 mCi in stage II (n=4), 149+/-21 mCi in stage III (n=38), and 161+/-20 mCi in stage IV (n=7). The statistical significance was not shown between PS and TD (p=0.169). Among fifty two patients who had available sTG, 25 patients (48.1%) having below 2 ng/mL of sTG were treated with 149+/-26 mCi of I-131, 9 patients (17.3%) having 2< or =sTG <5 ng/mL with 156+/-17 mCi, 5 patients (9.6%) having 5< or =sTG<10 ng/mL with 156+/-13 mCi, 7 patients (13.5%) having 10< or =sTG<50 ng/mL with 147+/-24 mCi, and 6 patients (11.5%) having above 50 ng/mL with 175+/-42 mCi. The statistical significance between sTG level and TD (p=0.252) was not shown.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, PS and sTG could not replace the determination of TD using I-123 scan for first HD-RAI in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer.

Keyword

thyroid cancer; I-123; radioiodine therapy; pathological staging; thyroglobulin

MeSH Terms

Humans
Lymph Node Excision
Neoplasm Staging
Sorbitol
Thyroglobulin
Thyroid Gland
Thyroid Neoplasms
Thyroidectomy
Tyramine
Whole Body Imaging
Sorbitol
Thyroglobulin
Tyramine