Thyroid cancer: What to eat after taking radioactive iodine?

 What effect does radioactive iodine have on thyroid cancer

Thyroid cancer is the most common type of cancer of the endocrine system . The incidence of thyroid cancer tends to increase. Differentiated thyroid cancer includes papillary, follicular, mixed papillary and follicular forms, accounting for 80%. The remaining 20% ​​are undifferentiated thyroid cancer including medullary, anaplastic, connective tissue cancer, lymphoma.

According to MSc. Le Quang Hien, Center for Granular Medicine and Oncology, Bach Mai Hospital (Hanoi), for differentiated thyroid cancer, a multimodal combination model including surgery + 131I (radioactive iodine) + hormone therapy is currently widely applied. variable and gives good results. In which total thyroidectomy and lymph node dissection are the basic treatment methods, radioactive iodine and hormones are adjunctive treatment methods.

Iodine is a mineral that the body uses to synthesize thyroid hormones. All iodine in the body comes from the diet. Most iodine in Our diet comes from iodized salt and other processed products with added iodine. Only some foods (such as milky seaweed and some fish) naturally contain iodine. Of course.

Before taking radioactive iodinehow does the patient eat?

Adhere to a low-fat diet Iodine before radioactive iodine treatment can help the therapy achieve the best results. If there is too much iodine in the body during radioactive iodine treatment, our thyroid can be used instead. Radioactive iodine. This will reduce the effectiveness of treatment.

Therefore most patients will be instructed to follow a low-iodine diet starting 2 weeks before treatment.

The following is a low-iodine diet recommended for thyroid cancer patients before radioactive iodine treatment:

The following foods should be avoided :

– Iodized salt.

– Multivitamins containing iodine (you should read the ingredients carefully before using).

– Milk or dairy products: cream cheese yogurt avocado.

– Seafood: fish sushi shellfish kelp or seaweed.

– Biscuits cakes cakes .

– FD&C food dye #3: this appears in maraschino cherries and is sometimes a pink or red artificial colorant in drinks.

– Heart egg yolks foods with egg yolks.

– Milk chocolate (due to milk ingredients).

– Soy products (soy sauce soy milk tofu). Note that soybeans do not contain iodine. However, eating a lot of soy has been shown to interfere with the absorption of radioactive iodine in animal studies.

Foods that can be eaten during the iodine abstinence period:

– Salt does not contain iodine.

– Egg whites.

– Bread (no iodized salt milk, egg yolk butter…).

– Fresh or frozen vegetables.

– Cereals and cereal products (wheat rice…).

– Canned fruits.

– Natural unsalted nuts and butter (peanuts cashew nuts, almonds…).

– Soft drinks, beer, wine, lemonade, fruit juice.

– Pure coffee or tea (no milk or cream).

– Popcorn with vegetable oil or air with non-iodized salt.

– Black pepper fresh or dried herbs and spices all vegetable oils.< /p>

– Sugar and honey jelly.

 Some additional recommendations:

– Limit restaurant food because There is no way to determine whether a restaurant uses iodized salt.

– Consult your doctor before discontinuing any red medicine or any medicine that has contain iodine (eg Amiodarone expectorant topical antiseptic).

– Avoid all herbs (especially when one is not sure how much iodine they contain).

What should patients pay attention to after taking radioactive iodine?

According to the University of Washington Medical Center (USA), about 2 hours before and after taking radioactive iodine. You should not eat solid foods or drink anything other than water. You can eat breakfast before going to the hospital, but remember to eat 2 hours before taking medicine.

Patients need to drink a lot of water after taking iodine and urinate often to go to the toilet at the hospital. Private bathroom in the quarantine area and flushed many times to avoid spilling on clothes, shoes or the surrounding environment.

Do not spit indiscriminately when vomiting, use a bag to contain the liquid. vomit and put it in a designated place to avoid causing radioactive pollution to the environment.

Normally after 1-3 days of radioactive iodine treatment, patients can restart their normal iodine diet. often. However, the above time period may vary in some patients.