With certain forms of cancer, such as cancer of the thyroid, one of the treatment options is radioactive iodine. Often referred to as simply RAI, this is essentially a form of radiation therapy. But instead of using external beams of ionized energy or the internal placement of radioactive pellets, radiation is delivered through an iodine solution to kill cancerous cells.
Radioactive Iodine
You're given a fairly large dose of radioactive iodine to be taken by mouth. Once ingested, the solution enters your bloodstream, where it actually targets any tissue containing thyroid cells, including those that are cancerous. No other cells in your body are harmed or killed in the process.
The reason this radioactive iodine treatment is so effective in treating this form of the disease is that thyroid cells are the only cells within your body that respond to iodine. And since the cancer consists of abnormal thyroid cells, including those that may have metastasized into other areas of the body, they, too, respond to this halogen. As soon as either healthy or cancerous thyroid cells come into contact with the iodine, they absorb the substance. If the material is radioactive, the radiation is absorbed into the cells as well. This can damage and alter the genetic structure of the cell, hindering its rapid division and killing the cancerous tissue.
But not everyone suffering from thyroid cancer is eligible for this form of treatment. Most people go through what is essentially a trial run to see if the malignant tumor actually absorbs the iodine. After the cancerous tissue responds appropriately to the solution, a higher dose is given to treat the disease.
Other Treatments
While radioactive iodine is considered an effective form of treatment, it is rarely the sole approach to care. Most of the time, the surgical removal of the malignant tumor and other cancerous tissue is performed in the form of a thyroidectomy or lobectomy before the ingestion of the radioactive iodine solution. RAI is typically used to rid the body of any remaining cancerous thyroid cells that may have been missed during the operation or may have spread to other areas of the body.
However, in later stages of the disease, as would be seen in stage IV thyroid cancer, radioactive iodine can be ingested as a form of palliative care. This is done to improve the quality of your life through the reduction of uncomfortable symptoms of the disease. It is not used to cure the cancer.
Prognosis
Fortunately, it seems that, regardless of the mode of treatment, the five-year relative survival rate for thyroid cancer is fairly high, upwards of 90% to almost 95% in men and 95% to 98% in women. Of course, early detection is by far the most effective way of increasing the prognosis of the disease. When caught in its earliest stage, meaning it is still contained within the thyroid, the five-year relative survival rate is almost 100%. As it breaks away from the thyroid and into the lymph nodes, the five-year relative dips to 97 percent. If it metastasize further into your body, the five-year relative survival rate drops to 59 percent. However, almost 70 percent of diagnoses are within the earlier stages of the disease.
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