The effects of iohexol administration on technetium thyroid scintigraphy in normal cats.

Administration of iodinated contrast medium interferes with iodide uptake in the human thyroid gland and compromises diagnostic thyroid scintigraphy and radioiodine treatment for 4-6 weeks. However, the degree and duration of inhibition of thyroid uptake of pertechnetate (99mTcO4-) by iodinated contrast medium has not been established in any species. The main objective of this study was to better understand the temporal characteristics and magnitude of inhibition of feline thyroid uptake of 99mTcO4- due to iohexol administration. Routine thyroid scintigraphy was performed in eight cats by intravenous (IV) injection of 185 MBq (5 mCi) of 99mTcO4- both 4 days before and 0, 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 days after IV administration of 880 mg I/kg iohexol (240 mg I/ml). Thyroid scintigraphy data were used to calculate thyroid:salivary gland ratios (T:S) and the percentage of total injected 99mTcO4- dose uptake within the thyroid (%TU) at 20 min postinjection. After iohexol administration, mean T:S was significantly decreased below baseline only on day 1. At no point during the study did any cat have a T:S that fell below the published normal reference range of 0.71 +/- 0.14. There was a significant decrease in %TU on day 1, 3, and 14; however, at no point during the study, did any cat have a %TU that fell below the published normal reference ranges of 0.64 +/- 0.57, 0.68 +/- 0.9, or 0.75 +/- 1.38.