Radionuclide Therapy

Radionuclide Therapy

Many radioisotopes, radiolabelled conjugates are available for treatment of difficult medical conditions; Some of them are the treatment of choice for the given conditions. Most commonly used therapy is radioiodine therapy for hyperthyroidism and thyroid cancer.

What is Radioiodine (I -131) Therapy and how is it used? Radioactive Iodine I-131 (also called Radioiodine I-131) is a beta emitting isotope of the stable element Iodine which is a natural constituent of thyroid gland. The thyroid is a gland in the neck that produces two hormones that regulate all aspects of the body’s metabolism, the chemical process of converting food into energy. When a thyroid gland is overactive, it produces too much of these hormones, accelerating the metabolism. Hyperthyroidism can be caused by Graves’ disease, in which the entire thyroid gland is overactive, or by nodules within the gland which are locally overactive in producing too much thyroid hormone.

When a small dose of I-131 is swallowed, it is absorbed into the bloodstream in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and concentrated from the blood by the thyroid gland, where it begins destroying the gland’s cells locally. Excess radioiodine is excreted mainly in urine and rapidly cleared from the body. Radioiodine therapy is the treatment of choice for most cases of hyperthyroidism.

Radioactive iodine I-131 may also be used to treat thyroid cancer, after surgery to destroy any residual tissue or metastases.

Other Radionuclide therapy Procedures

• Pain palliation for skeletal metastases from different cancers
• 32 Phosphorous / 153 Samarium / 89 Strontium therapy
• Radiation Synovectomy for some inflammatory joint disorders
• Advanced stage neuroendocrine tumors
• MIBG Therapy: for pheochromocytoma / paragangliomas
• Lu-177 Somatostatin receptor therapy: various other neuroendocrine tumors