Is it ok to take CT Scan before RAI treatment

priyagopi
priyagopi Member Posts: 7
edited March 2014 in Thyroid Cancer #1
Hi,

I have been asked to get a CT Scan for my abdomen, my question is, is it ok to have the CT scan before RAI treatment??

Any information will be helpful.

Thanks

Comments

  • BellsAngel69
    BellsAngel69 Member Posts: 104 Member
    #2
    It's only ok if you don't
    have dye contrast. Theh dye contrast they use for CT scans is loaded with iodine. This is what happened to me. I had a CT scan of my neck pre-thyroidectomy, and they weren't supposed to use dye contrast because they knew I had thyroid cancer and was going to have RAI treatment. Because they screwed up and used dye constrast, I had to wait six months to have my RAI. I was pretty pissed they screwed up my CT scan order from the get-go. Make sure they don't use dye-contrast and ask you doctor.
  • momoftwo72
    momoftwo72 Member Posts: 2
    #3
    BellsAngel69 said:

    It's only ok if you don't
    have dye contrast. Theh dye contrast they use for CT scans is loaded with iodine. This is what happened to me. I had a CT scan of my neck pre-thyroidectomy, and they weren't supposed to use dye contrast because they knew I had thyroid cancer and was going to have RAI treatment. Because they screwed up and used dye constrast, I had to wait six months to have my RAI. I was pretty pissed they screwed up my CT scan order from the get-go. Make sure they don't use dye-contrast and ask you doctor.

    They screwed up for me too!
    I was scheduled for an Iodine 123 scan in a few weeks but was also mistakenly given a CT scan with contrast a few weeks ago. I was not aware that this would be a problem until it was too late and I now have to wait months for my iodine scan. Although you had to wait six months for your RAI, did this create any risks for you and was the treatment successful in spite of the delay?

    Thank you!
  • alapah
    alapah Member Posts: 287
    #4
    momoftwo72 said:

    They screwed up for me too!
    I was scheduled for an Iodine 123 scan in a few weeks but was also mistakenly given a CT scan with contrast a few weeks ago. I was not aware that this would be a problem until it was too late and I now have to wait months for my iodine scan. Although you had to wait six months for your RAI, did this create any risks for you and was the treatment successful in spite of the delay?

    Thank you!

    I had to wait 12 weeks
    As I understand, the length of time you have to have inbetween the CT w/contrast and RAI depends partly on what dosage of iodine contrast you were given. Also, I hear there are differing opinions among specialists, so go figure. In order to diagnose the presence of my tumor, my ENT ordered a CT with contrast. It was a difficult wait! I was put on a suppressive dose of Synthroid in the meantime, up until a few weeks prior to RAI that is. I only had my RAI in September so I can't really say how it did overall. I've had a bunch of other scans since then and they don't seem to show anything discouraging to the docs(I also had external beam radiation after RAI so my case is pretty atypical). I did the Low Iodine Diet for 6 weeks. Probably more than needed, but I figured it was easy enough to do and if it had any potential at all to benefit me, why not. Of course, I craved so many things by the end!
    Best of luck to you.
  • priyagopi
    priyagopi Member Posts: 7
    #5
    alapah said:

    I had to wait 12 weeks
    As I understand, the length of time you have to have inbetween the CT w/contrast and RAI depends partly on what dosage of iodine contrast you were given. Also, I hear there are differing opinions among specialists, so go figure. In order to diagnose the presence of my tumor, my ENT ordered a CT with contrast. It was a difficult wait! I was put on a suppressive dose of Synthroid in the meantime, up until a few weeks prior to RAI that is. I only had my RAI in September so I can't really say how it did overall. I've had a bunch of other scans since then and they don't seem to show anything discouraging to the docs(I also had external beam radiation after RAI so my case is pretty atypical). I did the Low Iodine Diet for 6 weeks. Probably more than needed, but I figured it was easy enough to do and if it had any potential at all to benefit me, why not. Of course, I craved so many things by the end!
    Best of luck to you.

    LID diet - Need info
    Thank you all for your response, I have postponed my CT Scan as i want to deal with my cancer first. I already had my surgery and on my LID. Do you guys know is it ok to have 100% whole wheat flour and rice during your LID. I am a vegetarian and really running out of options. Any inputs on this will be really useful as they say iodine content depends on the soil and water so we have to be careful, its really confusing how do we know which one has iodine and which one doesn't??

    Thanks in advance
  • alapah
    alapah Member Posts: 287
    #6
    priyagopi said:

    LID diet - Need info
    Thank you all for your response, I have postponed my CT Scan as i want to deal with my cancer first. I already had my surgery and on my LID. Do you guys know is it ok to have 100% whole wheat flour and rice during your LID. I am a vegetarian and really running out of options. Any inputs on this will be really useful as they say iodine content depends on the soil and water so we have to be careful, its really confusing how do we know which one has iodine and which one doesn't??

    Thanks in advance

    LID
    Have you been to thyca.org? There is a great downloadable LID Cookbook on that site which includes tips along with the recipes. I had to look back to see about the wheat flour and rice...the cookbook includes recipes for whole wheat bread so it seems whole wheat flour is LID compatible. That particular cookbook also says to limit some things, among them grains (such as rice)but not to avoid them altogether -- though it does mention that some LIDs recommend avoiding rice. Apparently, basmati rice is best for the LID.
  • momoftwo72
    momoftwo72 Member Posts: 2
    #7
    alapah said:

    LID
    Have you been to thyca.org? There is a great downloadable LID Cookbook on that site which includes tips along with the recipes. I had to look back to see about the wheat flour and rice...the cookbook includes recipes for whole wheat bread so it seems whole wheat flour is LID compatible. That particular cookbook also says to limit some things, among them grains (such as rice)but not to avoid them altogether -- though it does mention that some LIDs recommend avoiding rice. Apparently, basmati rice is best for the LID.

    Iodine diet
    My doctor said that the diet does need to be that strict as long as we keep away from fish and seafood which has a lot of iodine. As for the rest, a little bit of dairy and other foods are ok as long as they are not excessive!
  • priyagopi
    priyagopi Member Posts: 7
    #8
    momoftwo72 said:

    Iodine diet
    My doctor said that the diet does need to be that strict as long as we keep away from fish and seafood which has a lot of iodine. As for the rest, a little bit of dairy and other foods are ok as long as they are not excessive!

    Thanks for your reply, I
    Thanks for your reply, I have schedule for the scan on Mar 10th, hope everything goes fine, really worried

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