Adverse Reactions to Radioiodine 131I Therapy of Goiter in West African Tertiary Hospital

OBJECTIVE: Radioactive iodine therapy (RAIT) is established as an efficient means of treating toxic goiter (TG) globally. The field of nuclear medicine (NM) still appears novel to many Nigerian clinicians and patients. A culturally embedded dread of radiation may raise ethical and moral concerns about potential adverse effects in the wake of RAIT in our setting. An adverse drug reaction may be described as “a response to a drug which is noxious and unintended, and which occurs at doses normally used in man”. This study therefore, seeks to review adverse reactions (ARs) experienced following RAIT. We would also like to improve patient and physician education about the safety profile of RAIT. METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of all patients who had received RAIT for thyroid disease from August 2006 to June 2015. RESULTS: Forty typical ARs were experienced following 36 therapy sessions (18.65%) with RAIT in 35 patients (21.47%) aged 17-78 years, of which three had multiple sessions for well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma (WDTC). CONCLUSION: RAIT remains a safe option for the treatment of benign and TG. The experienced ARs are mainly mild to moderate in severity and mostly short-lived. As larger doses of radioactive iodine for WDTC and TG were more commonly associated with ARs, our study suggests that these patients merit stronger prophylactic measures as well as closer monitoring for earlier detection and management of these reactions.