Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Radioiodine is used for the treatment of Thyrotoxicosis when medical treatment (anti-thyroid drugs) has failed or cannot be tolerated and surgical treatment is not an option. We aimed to assess our compliance with the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) guidelines for Radioiodine treatment, and assess patient satisfaction with our Radioiodine service.

Methods: Notes for patients who received Radioiodine treatment between January 2010 and April 2011 were retrospectively reviewed for information on pre-treatment, treatment and post-treatment follow-up periods. Patient satisfaction questionnaires were also sent to these patients.

Results: Thirty-seven notes were retrieved. Average patient age: 54 years; duration of Thyrotoxicosis: 2 years. Graves’ disease was predominant and the average radioiodine dose was 700 MBq. More than a third of patients had multiple co-morbidities. There was 100% compliance with RCP guidelines on informed consent, risk assessment, note keeping, as well as treatment and radiation protection advice. All but two patients had post-treatment follow-up in line with the guidelines: one patient died soon after treatment from an unrelated cause, the other was followed up by the General Practitioner. Hypothyroidism occurred in 83% of patients within 6 months of treatment, 5.6% remain euthyroid and 11.1% remain thyrotoxic. The patient satisfaction survey (30 patients) demonstrated that 93–100% of patients were satisfied (agree/strongly agree) with our service including post-treatment telemedicine: 2 out of 30 patients gave responses in the disagree/strongly disagree category.

Conclusion: This audit demonstrates that we are 100% compliant with most of the Royal College of Physicians guidelines for use of radioiodine for treating Thyrotoxicosis. Our average radioiodine dose was high because our patient-group had significant co-morbidity. Overall, patients were satisfied with the service provided. We need to ensure that the details of all patients who receive radioiodine treatment for Thyrotoxicosis are put on our re-call register.

Declaration of interest: There is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported.

Funding: No specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.