Introduction:
Radioactive iodine has been used for more than 50 years for the treatment of thyroid diseases. Differentiated thyroid cancers have the ability to trap iodine. Therefore, radioiodine can be used both diagnostically and therapeutically. In the follow-up of patients, it is critical to interpret radioiodine scans correctly.
Case presentation:
Non-physiological Iodine-131 (I-131) extra-thyroidal uptake detected on post-therapy or diagnostic I-131 scanning are not always interpreted as functioning metastatic thyroid cancer.
Conclusions:
This study provides detailed information and case samples of radiodine contamination artifacts and non-physiological, non-metastatic extra-thyroidal I-131 accumulation in whole-body I-131 imaging.