I've always followed our hospital policy of 2 hr fast before and after I-123 capsule. Recently a patient presented chewing gum. mmmmm grey area here. Checked with NucMed physician and endocrinologist who both felt it would be safer to be TOTALLY fasting. No gum or breath mints. One stated the salivary glands would absorb some of the I-123.

I can not find any documentation about this anywhere and wonder if anyone else has heard of or encountered this problem.

Thanks bunches!

There is no published articles out there that support the patient being NPO for a Thyroid uptake & Scan using I-123. IF you are performing I-131 Rx Yes.....  GUM????

GO TO snm.org

Hi,

I'm late responding to this, but here's my two cents.

In reality, the gum would have posed no issues with the the thyroid study. However, the physician is ultimately responsible for the exam. If there would ever be any cause for litigation, then the physician would have to prove that the gum caused no problem. Since there is little information on this "fuzzy" area, you can see that the Physician would be hard pressed for data, thus allowing reasonable doubt...therefore the Physician would be at fault by default.

 We have to support our Physicians every way we can in this law suit happy world. And it sounds like you did a great job!

Everett