Thyroid Cancer  Treatment for Cancer Metastases
Similar to the treatment for Graves' disease, RAI is used to treat thyroid cancer by destroying cancerous thyroid cells.
It can also be used to destroy any remaining normal thyroid tissue to facilitate monitoring for metastases.
If you are receiving treatment, more RAI is given after a total body scan.
Depending on the amount needed to destroy the cells, you may need to be hospitalized to monitor you and reduce the risk of radiation exposure to family and friends.
All patients receiving 30mci or more of RAI must be admitted to the hospital and placed in isolation for several days after taking this medication in order to minimize the risk of radiation exposure to others.
If other people are exposed to your radiation for a prolonged period of time, they could have damage to their thyroid glands.
You will be asked to stay in the hospital until the radioactivity levels decrease below a certain level.
Right now, it is unclear who should have their thyroid cancers treated with radioactive iodine. We know that the majority of patients with thyroid cancer have a very slow growing form of the disease which is not aggressive.
These patients are typically cured by thyroid surgery alone.
Since only a minority of patients have the more aggressive form of the disease which is potentially lethal, RAI therapy is reserved only for these patients who are at increased risk for recurrence and metastasis
(see section on prognosis staging for thyroid cancer).
As with most medical therapies, there are a range of side effects associated with RAI therapy, depending on the dose of RAI.
Common side effects may include sore throat, due to temporary enlargement of the salivary glands, and nausea right after therapy, which usually passes quickly.
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