Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar 8;12(1):3704.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-07592-8.

Radioactive iodine and female fertility

Pino Navarro #  1   2 , Sandra Rocher #  3   4 , Pau Miró-Martínez  5 , Sandra Oltra-Crespo  6
Affiliations

Radioactive iodine and female fertility

Pino Navarro et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Radioactive iodine (I131) is used after surgery in the treatment of Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma (DTC). There is no solid evidence about the potential deleterious effect of I131 on women fertility. The objective of this study is to assess the impact that I131 may have on fertility in women. All women followed by DTC in our department have been analyzed and women younger than 45 years old at the time of diagnosis and initial treatment were included. There were 40 women exposed to I131 (study group) and 11 women who were only treated with thyroidectomy (control group). Of the women exposed to I131, 40% went through early menopause, while no cases were reported among their controls. Furthermore, 29.2% of women exposed to I131 had decreased Antimüllerian Hormone (AMH), compared to the only 11% of unexposed women (not significant). Regarding the fertility impairment "perceived" by patients, in the group of women exposed to iodine, 17.9% described being unable to complete their genesic desire whereas, none was registered in the control group. We conclude that radioactive iodine can affect a woman's fertility and shorten her reproductive life, so this is an aspect that should be taken into consideration.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Kaplan–Meier graphic for menopausal women in I131 exposed group and their control.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Correlation of AMH values and age of women exposed to iodine and controls.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rego-Iraeta A, Pérez-Méndez LF, Mantinan B, Garcia-Mayor RV. Time trends for thyroid cancer in northwestern Spain: True rise in the incidence of micro and larger forms of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Thyroid. 2009;19(4):333–340. doi: 10.1089/thy.2008.0210. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tuttle RM, Ahuja S, Avram AM, et al. Controversies, consensus, and collaboration in the use of 131I therapy in differentiated thyroid cancer: A joint statement from the American thyroid association, the European association of nuclear medicine, the society of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, and the European thyroid association. Thyroid. 2019;29(4):461–470. doi: 10.1089/thy.2018.0597. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pacini F, Basolo F, Bellantone R, et al. Italian consensus on diagnosis and treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer: Joint statements of six Italian societies. J. Endocrinol. Invest. 2018;41(7):849–876. doi: 10.1007/s40618-018-0884-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lee SL. Complications of radioactive iodine treatment of thyroid carcinoma. J. Natl. Compr. Canc. Netw. 2010;8(11):1277–1287. doi: 10.6004/jnccn.2010.0094. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Clement SC, Peeters RP, Ronckers CM, et al. Intermediate and long-term adverse effects of radioiodine therapy for differentiated thyroid carcinoma–a systematic review. Cancer Treat Rev. 2015;41(10):925–934. doi: 10.1016/j.ctrv.2015.09.001. - DOI - PubMed