Radioactive iodine (RAI) is safe and effective in most patients with
hyperthyroidism but not all individuals are cured by the first dose, and most develop post-RAI
hypothyroidism. Postoperative RAI
therapy for remnant ablation is successful in 80-90% of
thyroid cancer patients and sometimes induces remission of nonresectable cervical and/or distant metastatic disease but the effective
tumor dose is usually not precisely known and must be moderated to avoid short- and
long-term adverse effects on other tissues. The Collar
Therapy Indicator (COTI) is a radiation detection device embedded in a cloth collar secured around the patient's neck and connected to a recording and data transmission box. In previously published experience, the data can be collected at multiple time points, reflecting local cervical RAI exposure and correlating well with conventional methods. We evaluated the real-time uptake of RAI in patients with
hyperthyroid Graves' disease and
thyroid cancer. We performed a pilot feasibility prospective study. Data were analyzed using R© (version 4.0.3, The R Foundation for Statistical Computing, 2020), and Python (version 3.6, Matplotlib version 3.0.3). The COTI was able to provide a quantitative temporal pattern of uptake within the thyroid in persons with
Graves' disease and lateralized the remnant tissue in persons with
thyroid cancer. The study has demonstrated that the portable collar radiation detection device outside of a healthcare facility is accurate and feasible for use after administration of RAI for diagnostic studies and
therapy to provide a complete collection of fractional target radioactivity data compared to that traditionally acquired with clinic-based measurements at one or two time-points.Clinical Trials Registration NCT03517579, DOR 5/7/2018.