Iodine
For example, iodine is an element selectively taken up by the thyroid gland in healthy people. Thyroid disease (both benign conditions like thyrotoxicosis and malignant conditions like papillary thyroid cancer) can be treated with radioactive iodine (iodine-131) which is then concentrated into the thyroid. Iodine-131 produces beta and gamma radiation. The beta radiation released destroys thyroid tissue, and any thyroid cancer that takes up iodine whilst most of the gamma radiation escapes the patient's body.
Most of the iodine not taken up by thyroid tissue is excreted through the kidneys into the urine. After radioactive iodine treatment, the urine will be radioactive or 'hot', and the patients themselves will also be radioactive. Depending on the amount of radioactivity administered, it can take days to weeks for the radioactivity to reduce to the point where the patient is not a radiation danger to bystanders. There are strict radiation protection regulations governing the use of these sources.
Read more about this topic: Unsealed Source Radiotherapy
Famous quotes containing the word iodine:
“During Prohibition days, when South Carolina was actively advertising the iodine content of its vegetables, the Hell Hole brand of ‘liquid corn’ was notorious with its waggish slogan: ‘Not a Goiter in a Gallon.’”
—Administration in the State of Sout, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)