title: Impact of sweating on equivalent dose of patients treated with (131)Iiodine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Radioiodine therapy is used for the treatment of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) who undergo total thyroidectomy. After radioiodine administration, regulations require to quarantine these patients until their retained activity reduces to <33 mCi. Some of the injected radioiodine is excreted by perspiration which helps dose reduction so that performing the activities which stimulate sweating such as exercise may shorten the time of dose reduction. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in the literature that has evaluated the impact of specific exercise program on the ambient equivalent dose of (131)I gamma rays.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with DTC without metastasis who had undergone total thyroidectomy and were treated with radioiodine were included in this study. 30 patients were chosen among patients who were able to exercise, did not have renal failure, and did not use diuretics. Patients were divided into two control and intervention groups. Intervention group members walked on treadmills under a specific program, in 3 time intervals. The control group did not have any specific activity. Immediately after each exercise process, both groups took a shower, and their doses were measured by a survey dosimeter.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was revealed that there was a significant difference between mean values before and after each exercise time. The calculated P value which evaluates the overall impact was 0.939 which revealed that there was no significant difference between total ambient equivalent dose reductions of both groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to the study, it may conclude that sweating is an effective alternative way for radioiodine excretion, and if sweating is accompanied with well-hydrated status they may have synergism effect to shorten quarantine period. This could be an important consideration in patients which over-hydration is intolerable especially those with cardiac, liver, or renal problems.
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Research Center, Namazi Teaching Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haghighatafshar
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Engineering, Faculty of Advanced Sciences and Technologies, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Aida
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Banani
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Research Center, Namazi Teaching Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Farshid
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gheisari
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Research Center, Namazi Teaching Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alikhani
keywords: 131Iiodine; differentiated thyroid cancer; equivalent dose; exercise; sweating