Tissue quantification of radioiodine thyroid uptake in humans by an isotopic imaging technique on slides

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Cherif, Achwak^{a; b; *} | Nouira, Manel^{a; c} | Barthe, Nicole^d | Mani, Radhouane^e | Kermani, Wassim^f | Abdessayed, Nihed^g | Saguem, Saad^a | Basse-Cathalinat, Bernard^d | Guezguez, Mohsen^c

Affiliations: [a] Laboratory of Metabolic Biophysics and Environmental and Applied Toxicology, LR12ES02, Faculty of Medicine, Sousse University, Sousse, Tunisia | [b] University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia | [c] Nuclear Medicine Department, Sahloul Hospital, Sousse, Tunisia | [d] Laboratory of Biophysics, BIOTIS – INSERM U1026, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France | [e] Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Sahloul Hospital, Sousse, Tunisia | [f] Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, FarhatHached Hospital, Sousse, Tunisia | [g] Department of Anatomical Pathology and Cytology, FarhatHached Hospital, Sousse, Tunisia

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Achwak Cherif, Laboratory of Metabolic Biophysics and Environmental and Applied Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Sousse University, Sousse, Tunisia. Tel.: +216 33769456996 or +216 97678699; E-mail: achwak.cherif@yahoo.fr.

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Thyroid metabolism involves iodine, which allows us to use radioactive iodine for diagnostic and therapy purposes. The efficiency of radioiodine therapy depends on several parameters; the ability of thyroid tissue to uptake radioactive iodine is one of them. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this work is to quantify the radioactive iodine uptake on thyroid tissue. METHODS: In this work, we developed a method to quantify the in vivo uptake of iodine-131 on sections of thyroid glands removed by thyroidectomies. We performed an analysis of histological sections of the thyroid tissue by beta imaging. We had the opportunity to quantify the fixed radioactivity and to analyze its distribution in the thyroid gland, thanks to the good spatial resolution available with the type of detector used. RESULTS: The results gave a high image resolution showing the heterogeneity of iodine-131 fixation by the thyroid tissue. We were able to quantify the tissue radioactivity in mega Becquerel (MBq) per volume unit. CONCLUSION: This work has shown that the direct quantification of the thyroid tissue uptake is possible using the beta imaging system.

Keywords: Iodine, radioactivity, thyroid tissue, iodine-131, imaging

DOI: 10.3233/THC-202401

Journal: Technology and Health Care, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 431-443, 2021