Test Your Medicine Knowledge (Medicine MCQ)

🏨Radioactive iodine therapy (RAI) is the most commonly used therapy for #Graves disease.  Radioactive iodine may also be also used to treat some patients with papillary or follicular thyroid cancer after thyroidectomy.

💉This treatment is considered effective because the thyroid cells are the main cells in the body that absorb iodine. When the thyroid cells absorb the radioactive iodine, the cells are destroyed (ablated).

🔴When patients receive RAI, hypothyroidism may ensue and if it persists, permanent hypothyroidism is likely making a replacement with levothyroxine (T4) necessary.

The absolute contraindication for radioiodine is pregnancy.