EFFECT OF IODINE-131 ON SALIVARY GLAND FUNCTION AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH THYROID CANCER

Haiyan Huang¹, Yayue Luo², Li Liu¹, Dong Chen¹, Xin Wang¹, Bin Hu¹, Yaner Sheng^{1, *}

¹Department of Endocrine, Hangzhou Fuyang Traditional Chinese Medcine Hospital, Hangzhou, PR China - ²Department of Gynaecology, Hangzhou Fuyang Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Hangzhou, PR China

Objective: To explore the clinical efficacy of iodine-131 in the treatment of thyroid cancer and its influence on salivary gland function and quality of life. 

Methods: A total of 72 patients with thyroid cancer were randomly selected from April 2018 to January 2020 in our hospital. The patients were treated with iodine-131 after thyroidectomy. Prednisone was routinely taken 2 days before taking iodine for 7 days. The patient experienced increased saliva secretion 2 h after taking iodine, drank more water, and had increased urination and defecation. 

Results: The average age of thyroid cancer patients was 48.15±6.81 years old; 13.89% of them were male, and 86.11% of them were female; 5.56% had papillary carcinoma, and 94.44% had follicular carcinoma; 8.33% were stage Ⅱ, 61.11% were stage Ⅲ a, 26.39% were stage Ⅲ B, 4.17% were stage Ⅳ. Most (87.95%) patients had lymph node metastases (a total of 83 metastases). Of 72 patients, 52 cases (72.22%) were completely cleared, and 20 cases (27.78%) were incompletely cleared. The cure rate was 59.04%, the effective rate was 32.53%, and the invalid rate was 8.43%. Compared with that before treatment, the proportion of normal salivary gland uptake function and secretion function of thyroid cancer patients decreased significantly after treatment. The proportion of mild, moderate and severe dysfunction increased significantly (P<0.05). Compared with before treatment, the scores of psychological, mental, physiological, environmental, independence and social function of patients with thyroid cancer were significantly increased after treatment; that is, the patients’ quality of life was significantly improved (P<0.01). 

Conclusion: Iodine-131 treatment of thyroid cancer can significantly inhibit the growth of thyroid tissue metastasis and improve patients’ quality of life, but the treatment process will have a certain impact on the salivary gland function of patients.