Tissue quantification of iodine thyroid metabolism in humans. Development of an isotopic imaging technique on slides

In the treatment of thyroid cancer, radioiodine therapy takes place after surgery. Therapeutic efficacy depends on thyroid tissue ability to uptake radioactive iodine. Methods: In this work we proposed to develop a method to quantify the fixation of iodine 131 on sections of thyroid glands removed during thyroidectomies. We performed an analysis of histological sections of thyroid tissue by beta imaging. Our goal is to quantify the fixed radioactivity and analyze its distribution in the thyroid gland given the good spatial resolution available with the type of detector used. Results: The results gave an excellent quality of images showing the heterogeneity of iodine 131 fixation by thyroid tissues. Conclusion: This work has shown that direct quantification of thyroid uptake is possible using the beta imaging system.