European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging
-
Eur. J. Nucl. Med. Mol. Imaging · May 2010
Dosimetry-guided high-activity (131)I therapy in patients with advanced differentiated thyroid carcinoma: initial experience.
In patients with advanced differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC), therapy with the highest safe (131)I activity is desirable to maximize the tumour radiation dose yet avoid severe myelotoxicity. Recently, the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) published a standard operational procedure (SOP) for pre-therapeutic dosimetry in DTC patients incorporating a safety threshold of a 2 Gy absorbed dose to the blood as a surrogate for the red marrow. We sought to evaluate the safety and effectiveness in everyday tertiary referral centre practice of treating advanced DTC with high (131)I activities chosen primarily based on the results of dosimetry following this SOP. ⋯ In our initial patient cohort, high-activity (131)I therapy for advanced DTC based on pre-therapeutic blood dosimetry following the EANM SOP was safe and well tolerated. Such treatment almost always produced a partial biochemical tumour response.