Radioiodine (I131) Treatment for Thyroid Cancer

Why do I need to be nursed in a special room?

I131 is a form of internal radiation therapy and once you receive your treatment special precautions must be taken.

This is because your bodily fluids will contain the radioactive material and radiation, similar to x-rays, will be emitted from your body.

The levels of radioactivity in your body will decrease quickly over a period of days as most of the material is eliminated from the body in your urine.

For a few days we care for you in the radioiodine suite to reduce other people's exposure to radiation.

Regulations state that members of the public should not receive radiation doses greater than one millisievert (1mSv) in any year as a result of medical exposure to others (Statutory Instrument 1999).

To put these risks into context a person living in Newcastle is exposed to two millisieverts (2mSv) of background radiation a year.

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