parathyroid

[Milkyway88]

Today tcpace raised a good point about the parathyroid and if surgeons aim to preserve them.

This is something I’ve wondered about with relation to RAI, as I can’t imagine anything in its wake would survive. Any thoughts/knowledge?

[Brightness14]

It's a very interesting question and one I had never thought of. I expect that RAI is the cheapest option maybe that's why it's offer first.

[Milkyway88 in reply to Brightness14]

Cheapest and easiest for the doctor and NHS.

[Brightness14]

It's a very interesting question and one I had never thought of. I expect that RAI is the cheapest option maybe that's why it's offered first.

[Brightness14]

I thought that would be the answer. The cheapest option not what's best for the patient.

[PurpleNails Administrator]

There is a reported increased risk of parathyroid issues after RAI.

It is highlight here pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/176...

Regular surveillance is recommended, but does not indicate at what interval/s. As there is no official guidance suggesting this is offered very few are routinely safeguarded.

I have found doctors do not highlight potential side affects apart from mentioning hypothyroidism & replacement - which is downplayed.

Doctors avoid such discussion, I was sent a leaflet (4 times) on to cover all my queries - the main reference to possible consequences says - “there is an extremely small excess risk of cancer from treatment with radioactive iodine. For most patients the benefit of treating the overactive thyroid gland far outweighs the extremely low cancer risk”

Parathyroid issues are not mentioned.

btf-thyroid.org/treatment-o...

[Milkyway88 in reply to PurpleNails]

Thanks for this, certainly parathyroid wasn’t mentioned in my case. In fact, it was peddled like the endowment mortgagees of the 80s were.