Chewing-gum stimulation did not reduce the absorbed dose to salivary glands during radioiodine treatment of thyroid cancer as inferred from pre-therapy (124)I PET/CT imaging

BACKGROUND: The goal of this prospective study was to estimate the absorbed (radiation) doses to salivary glands in radioiodine therapy of thyroid cancer under chewing-gum stimulation using (124)I positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) imaging. METHODS: Duplex ultrasonography was conducted in three test persons for visual comparison of the glandular blood flow with three different stimulation types (no stimulation, chewing tasteless gum base, sucking on lemon slices). Ten patients with newly diagnosed differentiated thyroid cancer received (124)I PET/CT dosimetry after thyroidectomy and prior to radioiodine therapy. Patients underwent a series of three (124)I PET/CT scans (4, 24, and ≥96 h after administration of 23 MBq (124)I). They were instructed to chew gum base (tasteless) approximately 20 min after ingesting the (124)I-containing capsule in the course of the first day. Absorbed doses per administered (131)I activity to the salivary glands were calculated and compared with the previously published results of the lemon-juice stimulation and non-stimulation groups. RESULTS: The sonograms in the three test persons showed that glandular blood perfusion by lemon-juice stimulation was clearly increased compared with non-stimulation or chewing of gum base. The sonogram comparison between the chewing-gum stimulation and non-stimulation demonstrated a minor increase of blood flow for the gum base-stimulated salivary glands. The mean ± standard deviation of the absorbed dose per activity under chewing-gum stimulation for the submandibular and parotid glands (within parentheses) was 0.22 ± 0.09 Gy/GBq (0.22 ± 0.08 Gy/GBq). Compared with the absorbed doses of the non-stimulation group, 0.24 ± 0.08 Gy/GBq (0.21 ± 0.05 Gy/GBq), those of the chewing-gum stimulation group showed no significant change (P > 0.60), but the absorbed doses of the lemon-juice stimulation group, 0.35 ± 0.14 Gy/GBq (0.33 ± 0.09 Gy/GBq), were significantly higher (P < 0.04) than those of the chewing-gum stimulation group. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that salivary flow induced by chewing gum base does not cause a significant reduction of the salivary gland absorbed dose compared with that in the non-stimulation group. The increased blood flow appears to be a decisive factor causing the increased (131)I absorbed doses in the lemon-juice stimulation group.