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Unusual uptake of radioiodine in the chest in a patient with thyroid carcinoma

¹ Radiation Medicine Centre and ² Department of Radiodiagnosis, Tata Memorial Hospital, Jerbai Wadia Road, Parel, Bombay 400012, India

Correspondence: Dr Sandip Basu

A wide spectrum of potentially misleading artefacts can arise in ¹³¹I whole body scans from various anatomical variants and physiological processes as well as several unrelated non-thyroidal disease processes. A proper understanding of the causes of false positive ¹³¹I scans is essential for accurate interpretation of the images and to obviate diagnostic errors which may lead to administration of unnecessary therapy doses. The authors, in this article, present a case which had ¹³¹I uptake in the mediastinum persisting after surgical excision of mediastinal nodes, which was subsequently found to be due to accumulation of radioiodine in a hugely dilated oesophagus in secondary to achalasia. A comprehensive and rational classification of the various false positive ¹³¹I scintigraphic patterns based on the knowledge of the existing literature is reviewed.