Does (131)I Radioactivity Interfere with Thyroglobulin Measurement in Patients Undergoing Radioactive Iodine Therapy with Recombinant Human TSH?

OBJECTIVES

Recombinant human thyroid-stimulating hormone (rhTSH) is widely used in radioactive iodine therapy (RIT) to avoid side effects caused by hypothyroidism during the therapy. Owing to RIT with rhTSH, serum thyroglobulin (Tg) is measured with high (131)I concentrations. It is of concern that the relatively high energy of (131)I could interfere with Tg measurement using the immunoradiometric assay (IRMA). We investigated the effect of (131)I administration on Tg measurement with IRMA after RIT.

METHODS

A total of 67 patients with thyroid cancer were analysed retrospectively. All patients had undergone rhTSH stimulation for RIT. The patients' sera were sampled 2 days after (131)I administration and divided into two portions: for Tg measurements on days 2 and 32 after (131)I administration. The count per minute (CPM) of whole serum (200 μl) was also measured at each time point. Student's paired t-test and Pearson's correlation analyses were performed for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

Serum Tg levels were significantly concordant between days 2 and 32, irrespective of the serum CPM. Subgroup analysis was performed by classification based on the (131)I dose. No difference was noted between the results of the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS

IRMA using (125)I did not show interference from (131)I in the serum of patients stimulated by rhTSH.