To make people aware and understand the importance of thyroid health and the medical advancement achieved in treating thyroid diseases, the World Thyroid Day is observed every year on 25th May. This year, on this day experts emphasise the importance and effectiveness of radioactive iodine treatment in curing thyroid cancer and the need to spread awareness about it.
Dr P S Choudhury, director of Nuclear Medicine, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute said: “Cases of thyroid cancer have seen a rise in the past few years. The good news is that most cases are treatable. Surgery to remove all or most of the thyroid and lymph nodes is mostly taken up followed by radioactive Iodine treatment is increasingly being used to kill cancer cells that may have been left behind after surgery, or those that are spread in the body or thyroid cancer that reappears after treatment. It is a real boon for thyroid cancer treatment.”
The thyroid gland, located in the lower part of the neck, secretes hormones that deliver energy to body cells and controls metabolism. Thyroid diseases such as hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, goiter, benign lumps, thyroiditis, auto-immune thyroid disease and thyroid cancer have become common globally, affecting millions of people. According to The Indian Thyroid Society, 4.2 crore Indians are suffering from thyroid disorders with almost 90 per cent undiagnosed.
Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy. Its symptoms may include lump in the neck, pain in the lower front part of the neck, swollen lymph nodes in the neck, hoarseness of voice, and trouble in breathing and swallowing. Physical examination, blood tests, thyroid and other scans, thyroid ultrasound, fine-needle aspiration biopsy and surgical biopsy can be done to detect thyroid cancer in a patient. For most thyroid cancer cases, the entire thyroid is removed and the patients need to take thyroid replacement hormone throughout their lives. Lymph nodes in the neck that contain cancer are also removed. With Radioactive Iodine Therapy post surgery, any thyroid tissue remaining in the body takes up the iodine which kills cancer cells.
Dr C S Bal, Professor, Department of Nuclear Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi said, “In India, there has been a steady rise in the cases of thyroid cancer over the years. We have been doing an internal research on the increase in the number of patients and have observed a sharp rise in the afflicted cases visiting the institute with thyroid cancer. From under 150 cases in 1986-90, nearly 2,000 cases in 2006-10 were registered. There is also an increase in the use of Radioactive Iodine Therapy for thyroid cancer patients.”
Radioactive Iodine Therapy is now available in many hospitals in the country after the removal of thyroid. It requires a special set up, including isolation rooms and separate drainage system.
“Administering a dosage of radioactive iodine post operatively can save a person’s life by killing the microscopic cancer cells and even help patients whose thyroid cancer reappears after surgery. In the case of this patient, there were chances of cancer cells being left behind as she had several enlarged nodes and therefore the need for Radioactive Iodine treatment. After Radioactive Iodine treatment, patients are kept in under observation in isolation wards to check the radiation levels. Lutetium octreotide therapy is another upcoming treatment option for thyroid cancer, currently available at AIIMS. It shall not be out of place to mention here that Lu177- Octreotide therapy is not available even in USA. Currently, only few countries in the world have capability to treat these patients with Lu-Octreotide. Thanks to BARC which is supplying Lu177 at minimal price to Indian patients”, said Dr C S Bal.