Radiation dose assessments in radioiodine (131I) therapy. 1. The necessity for in vivo quantitation and dosimetry in the treatment of carcinoma of the thyroid.

In order to destroy thyroid cancer metastases by radioiodine an average tissue dose of 80-300 Gy is needed. Such high doses can be expected, following the administration of the conventional 5.5 GBq of 131I, only if both the percentage uptake per gram in the target tissue and the effective half life of the radioiodine in it are higher than well-defined threshold values, and if every dimension of the tissue exceeds several millimeters. The fulfillment of such favourable conditions in actual clinical cases can only be confirmed by in vivo quantitation of the absorbed dose achieved as a result of the administration of radioiodine.