Recently a friend of ours brought his cat to a vet, who has been diagnosed with cancer in the thyroid. He told me about Radioiodine treatment, and said it's mostly used for cats, but has also been beneficial to dogs.
WEBSITE OF BACKGROUND:
What is Radioiodine (I-131) Therapy?
If your pet has an overactive thyroid gland (hyperthyroid) OR if he/she has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, the doctors at Southeast Veterinary Oncology and Internal Medicine (SEVO-Med) may prescribe radioactive iodine (radioiodine) as part of your pets overall treatment.
Radioiodine (I-131) Therapy is a radioactive treatment that when injected into the body is taken up by the thyroid gland. The normal thyroid tissue is relatively "protected" from the effects of the radioiodine because the I-131 is preferentially taken up by abnormal, hyperfunctional tissue. Once the abnormal nodule or tissue is destroyed, the remainder of the thyroid tissue performs normally again.
BACKGROUND
- See more at: http://www.petcancercare.com/radioactiveiodine.html#sthash.VKSNWilb.dpuf
- The thyroid gland produces hormones that regulate your pet's metabolism. In order to produce these hormones, the thyroid gland normally utilizes iodine in the diet, found mostly in seafood and salt. Our doctors take advantage of the thyroid tissue's ability to "trap" iodine and use radioiodine to treat overactive thyroid glands (and some types of thyroid cancer). Fortunately, with this treatment, very little radiation exposure occurs to the rest of your pet's body. For more than 50 years, radioiodine has been used in the treatment of human thyroid disease. We have been treating our veterinary patients here at SEVO-Med for five (5) years.
- Radioiodine (I-131) therapy typically has few side effects. Upon administration, however, side effects may occur when very large doses are given. Such side effects may include irritation of the salivary glands, gastrointestinal tract, or the urinary bladder. We see this irritation in less than 1% of our treatment population. Complications resulting after the treatment will be discussed in a later section of this handout.
