ORAL CAVITY COMPLICATIONS RELATED TO SALIVARY GLANDS IN DIFFERENTIATED THYROID CANCER PATIENTS AFTER RADIOACTIVE IODINE 131 THERAPY AT AN INTERVAL OF 3 MONTHS AND 1 YEAR

Yadav Naveen; Rather Tanveer Ahmad; Khan Shoukat H

Volume : VII, Issue : V, May - 2018

ORAL CAVITY COMPLICATIONS RELATED TO SALIVARY GLANDS IN DIFFERENTIATED THYROID CANCER PATIENTS AFTER RADIOACTIVE IODINE 131 THERAPY AT AN INTERVAL OF 3 MONTHS AND 1 YEAR

Yadav Naveen, Rather Tanveer Ahmad, Khan Shoukat H

Abstract :

Salivary glands are the most commonly affected organ after radioactive iodine(RAI) 131 treatment used for differentiated thyroid cancer(DTC). Symptoms may develop immediately after the therapeutic dose or months later in patients treated with radioactive I 131 in DTC. The frequently encountered complications include radiation sialadenitis, taste alterations, infections, dental caries, transient facial nerve palsy and xerostomiawhich can cause distress to the patient.

Material &Methods: This was a prospective comparative study conducted in the Department of Nuclear Medicine in Sher –I– Kashmir Institute of Medical, Srinagar. Study comprises of 20 patients of DTC who underwent baseline clinical assessment before Surgery and after RAI therapy at 3 months and at 1 year. All patients underwent baseline USG to rule out any salivary gland disorder.

Results: Out of 20 patients, 14 were female and 6 were male. At 3 months after RAI therapy 9 patients(45%) develops complications which get resolved at 1 year. One patient develops fresh dental caries at 1 year of presentation.

Conclusion:In our study dryness of mouth and dental caries were the most frequent complications after the first dose of iodine131 therapy at 3 months and all patients improved clinically at 1 year of follow up. One new patient develops dental caries after 3 months. A large multi centric and longer duration follow up study would be helpful for further evaluation.