Classification of the Thyroid Goiters from Radionuclide thyroid scans at AlNelain Diagnostic Center

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to classify the thyroid goiters from radionuclide thyroid scans performed at the department of nuclear medicine in alnelain diagnostic center during the period between 2014- 2016. The study included a number of 80 radionuclide scans for female patients (64%) and male patients (16%). The range of age of the patients under study was between (18 – 69 years). The study results showed that a number of 14 patients (18%) was diagnosed as normal , 30 patients (38%) were with multinodular goiter ,25 (31%) with simple diffuse goiter , 8 (10%) with toxic multinodular goiter , 3 (4%) with toxic simple diffuse goiter. 92% of patients with multinodular goiter had an inhomogeneous thyroid scan image and 1% had a homogeneous image , 10 of simple diffuse goiter patients had an inhomogeneous thyroid scan image and 15 were with homogeneous scan . All toxic goiters(11) were shown as inhomogeneous thyroid scans, 8 of them showed toxic multinodular goiter and 3 showed toxic simple diffuse goiter . The study proposed some recommendations including the important of taking diets rich of iodine by all people, especially the population of western Sudan. TFT, ultrasound and radionuclide thyroid scans are recommended as a routine prime investigations in the work-up of the thyroid goiter. I123 could be used for thyroid scan to determine the goiter functioning because iodine is organified by the thyroid in contrast to Tc99m standard dose. Proper technique and position should always be adopted in thyroid imaging. Determination of the best method of long-term follow-up of patients with thyroid goiter should be considered. More concern and care should be paid to patients with thyroid goiters in Sudan. Future studies on larger sample and other places may give more reliable results.