Post-radio-iodine therapy scan in a MN/CT 670 Discovery

On the 11th September it was time to go back to Medway Hospital for my post treatment scan. This was to see if there had been uptake of the radio-iodine in my body and to image where this has occurred. I chose to wear a brown dress and plum coloured tights for this outing because it made me feel comfortable.


I was driven there and back as my energy was still quite low on the low dose (50mcg) levothyroxine - last day today, back on the 100mcg from tomorrow. Into the waiting room. A few stares from the other waiting patients but not very much reaction to a man in a dress. I spoke to the Sister who came to see how I was getting on. A long wait. After about 55 minutes I was called through to camera room 1, where I found one of these waiting for me.

A gamma camera that is tuned to receive the signal from iodine-131 using SPECT technology (single-photon emission computed tomography). I had a 5 minute scan to my neck, 5 minutes on chest and 5 minutes on pelvic region. Then I was flipped around for a 14 minute 3D scan around my upper body, then finally a 30 second whole body CT scan. Compared to all the other scans I have been through this was by far the most pleasant. Just lie there and relax.

The consultant came in and spoke with me briefly after the first section had completed. He said that there had been uptake of radio-iodine in my neck region. This is good because there was a possibility that it may not have worked since the surgeon said that the tumour was more aggressive that he first thought, that it was poorly differentiated, and though papillary in nature was behaving in an anaplastic manner. This imaging has shown this to be not quite so serious, and the radio-iodine would be killing the cancerous thyroid cells. He said he would call to discuss the rest of the scan with me on Monday. 

The RPS came in to discuss my radiation levels and how they might affect my personal X-ray monitoring badge at work. I was down to about 200MBq, and if I were to go in on Monday this would show up. I should discuss it with our RPA. So I have arranged to return to a working from home arrangement for the next week. I did contact the RPA who was not particularly worried about my levels. So a good news day.