Background: High-dose radioiodine therapy following total thyroidectomy is standard for patients suffering from differentiated thyroid carcinoma and contributes significantly to their favourable prognosis. Due to active iodine accumulation, high focal radiation doses are received by the salivary glands.
Patients/result: Report on two patients, who received multiple high-dose radioiodine treatments because of a differentiated metastatic thyroid carcinoma. A few years later, they developed a mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the salivary glands. Due to the high cumulative radiation dose, radiation-induced secondary malignancies following radiation-induced sialadenitis appears likely, although no causal connection could be proven.
Conclusion: Consistent protection of the salivary glands during radioiodine therapy as well as the follow-up of the many long-term survivors of differentiated thyroid carcinomas is desirable to further lower the salivary gland-related side effects and to detect secondary malignancies as early as possible.