# Thyroid Carcinoma and I 131 treatment



## PrincessDi (Jun 8, 2009)

Our almost 10 year old Bae Lee was diagnosed with Thyroid Carcinoma last week. Our local vet referred him to a large referral vet with 5 oncologists on staff. Diagnosis was based on needle aspiration, blood panel and urine tests. The oncologist had several radiographs taken to see if there was evidence of any metastasis anywhere is his body, which thankfully there is no evidence at this point. The tumor is inoperable, based on location which is not on one thyroid, but in the middle of the throat. The oncologists and several oncology surgeons felt that it was too risky.

They did not do a CT since we would then have to wait a month to be able to attempt Radiation or I 131 treatment. The only place that we can get him radiation or I 131 is in Pullman at UW. The soonest we could get him in to see someone at UW is 12/29. It is a 6 hour drive over snow covered passes. We were hoping he would be a candidate for I 131 and through that and/or radiation, we could shrink it enough that he could have as much as possible removed. 

Since getting the appointment, the referral center oncologist got statistics on the I 131 treatment. I'm now scared after hearing the statistics from Pullman which are:

"They have not treated enough dogs to be able to provide outcome predictions in addition to previously published work. Statistics reported for about 70 dogs (2 reports) are similar, with most dogs surviving at least 1-2 years after therapy. In one report, the median survival time was about 28 months (50% of dogs lived less than 28 months, and 50% lived longer). "

There aren't words that adequately describe our fear of losing him. We rescued him almost 3 years ago and I'm terrified that I will make the wrong decisions for him. At this point, he doesn't seem to feel bad. He has never had a loss of appetite since we have known him, but he is sleeping a bit more than usual. 

*Does anyone have any personal experience in treatment for a golden with I 131?*


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## PrincessDi (Jun 8, 2009)

*I so hope that someone has experience with this*

Not sure where else to turn at this point. So afraid of making the wrong decisions.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I'm sorry I can't offer advice, only good thoughts and many prayers


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## Karen519 (Aug 21, 2006)

*Princess Di*

Princess Di:

I am so very sorry to hear about Bae Lee. I unfortunately don't know anything about thyroid 
carcinoma Did you try doing a search on here? I will try for you.

Did you google?


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## PrincessDi (Jun 8, 2009)

Hi Karen,

Thanks so much! I did search. The one that I found that most matched was a brand new member that never posted a follow up. Thyroid cancer is common in felines, but not so much for canines.

I would have to leave Bae Lee in Pullman for 3-4 weeks. I'm not sure what to do.


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## Karen519 (Aug 21, 2006)

*Princess Di*

Princess Di

Do a search on here for CStrong73. She thought her dog might have it and was supposed to have a test done in April 2014, but don't know if she posted about it. Perhaps you can private message her annd ask if her dog had it. 

I also did a google onn thyroid carcinoma in dogs and alot came up, but I don't know how to attach the link. What does your vet think?


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## PrincessDi (Jun 8, 2009)

We are basically working with the referral oncologist. Ideally she likes to remove as much of the tumor as they can, but it isn't an option at this point. Actually from what I've read, 30% of the time with canines, it's in-operable because of all of the vital functions that go thru this region. She thought it was a good idea to take him to Pullman and see if he is a candidate for I 131 treatment and/or radiation. 

The thing is, it is very easy for everyone to say that, but I'm terrified of leaving him there. I can't imagine losing him and not being there.


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## Rion05 (Jan 4, 2016)

PrincessDi, My 12-year-old golden was treated for a functional ectopic thyroid tumor in Aug-Sept. (near the hyoid bone). I did a great deal of research in deciding upon treatments and I am happy to answer any questions. Of course, every case is different. Most thyroid tumors actually are not operable because of the location, as most are "fixed." Some freely moveable tumors can be removed in surgery. My dog's tumor was in a bad location for surgery (very vascular and high risk of bleeding) and indeed seemed "fixed." It was caught relatively early and did not seem to be growing quickly. A surgeon recommended full-course radiation. My dog went through 11 of 12 treatments (he was not doing well after treatment 11, so our primary vet and I agree that 11 was good!). Since the end of treatment, his thyroid levels have decreased (almost in the normal range now)! It takes a long time for thyroid tumors to shrink after radiation therapy (I believe the veterinary literature said between 8 and 22 months to finish shrinking), so we may need to wait a while - but it does not seem to be growing. We also visited a holistic vet, who recommended mushrooms and Omega 3s for metastasis prevention. Please let me know if I can answer any questions. My dog is doing well right now and we hope that he can live for years after this treatment (the literature is promising - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1899859/ - and he has long-lived relatives). 

Since you are considering I-131 therapy, is the tumor "functional" or causing the dog to be hyperthyroid? How large is the tumor? We did not have a facility nearby that did I-131 treatment. Also, the "functional" status was not discovered until our first radiation oncologist appointment (whoops!). 

All the best!


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## PrincessDi (Jun 8, 2009)

*Thanks so much for posting*

Bae Lee had normal thyroid levels, so guess it was functional. None of the oncologists really mentioned the term, other than his were normal. Bae Lee did not exhibit any of the symptoms other than the mass. The mass did not grow quickly until the last 6 weeks and it grew very swiftly. He never lost weight (actually gained a few) and never missed a meal. He did not wake me in the night to go out. Was never nauseous and did not seem like his breathing was affected.

Although the radiographs did not show any metastasis anywhere, that is now changed. We took him to Pullman WSU (an 8 hour drive) last Wednesday. They can only treat 1 dog at a time with I 131 and they had a dog that would not be finished for 3 weeks. So Bae Lee is getting Palliative Radiation treatment. They feel that the more aggressive radiation would not be good for him, because he would be away from us for too long. This is the only place in the state that does I 131 or radiation. They did a ct scan and it showed that he has 3 spots in each lung that are just starting. They are more concerned with the Thyroid tumor currently, since the tests show it is impenging on his airway. 

Unfortunately they also found that a brand new small lump on his chest is Mast cell and they also found that a small mass on his left hind leg is cancer. It was so strange that they sent a biopsy to find out which type and also sent the mast cell to determine if it is the less invasive type or the more scary aggressive type. We should know by tomorrow. We will pick Bae Lee up this Friday. I'm taking his brother with me to have him checked as well. It is very difficult to express our fear and frustration. We had several vets that had looked at these lumps, one had even done a needle aspiration and no one had any concern. That is why, I will not believe anyone again and that's why I'm taking Keeper.

My boys have never been around anyone that smoked. We have never treated our lawn with any chemicals. They have only had 4 applications of flea treatment. We rescued them 1/16/2013 from Whidbey Island. They spent the first 7 years of their life outside without shelter tied up to a fence in a cow pasture. We are wondering if they somehow came in contact with chemicals or something. I tore the house up looking for the phone number of the former owner and called her to see if they were exposed to any chemicals. She said no, but now that I mentioned it 6 of her immediate neighbors died within a short period of time of cancer. 

Anyway, no words to express how devastating this is. My Bae Lee boo is the light of my life. Keeper is my husband's light of his life.


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## PrincessDi (Jun 8, 2009)

Just wanted to add that 3 previous vets had looked at what we thought was a lump on Bae Lee's throat and they said it wasn't a lump, but the equivalence of a male dog's adam's apple.


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## Rion05 (Jan 4, 2016)

Try not to make yourself worry about how your dog got cancer - I really think cancer is far too complex to trace back to a single potential risk factor. With goldens, unfortunately, simple genetics are always a possibility. 

Actually, since your dog's thyroid levels were normal, I wonder if I-131 would be effective treatment; that is, I had gotten the sense from reading that perhaps I-131 was more effective if iodine uptake could be demonstrated, which I thought was more common with a functional (or thyroid-producing) tumor (my dog's tumor, for instance). Our state doesn't have an I-131 facility for dogs, though.

Also, quite frankly, if your golden is a velcro-golden like mine...dogs have limited human exposure during I-131 therapy. I think my velcro-boy would die of sadness without people! 

Palliative radiation actually works extremely well - in fact, although the purpose is typically not to increase lifespan, in the study mentioned in that link - the dogs did EXTREMELY well after palliative therapy!

I'm sorry you are being thrown more bad news. It is like you are in a storm and it won't let up. We were there. That is just so tough. Try to keep your chin-up, though. My dog was diagnosed with the thyroid tumor as an incidental finding during an emergency splenectomy (he collapsed and we discovered it was because his spleen was bleeding). First he had to stabilize, then survive the surgery, then he developed pancreatitis (we were told it was a rare complication of the surgery), then he lost an additional 6 pounds from the pancreatitis (he'd already lost about 4 pound from surgery - he was already a lean dog BEFORE the surgery), then we had to hope that the spleen wasn't actually cancer, then we learned the thyroid tumor WAS cancer, he still didn't have a normal appetite, then he underwent radiation therapy, then his pancreatitis flared up - possibility from stress (causing him to stop eating again), then after his 11th of 12 planned treatments he became lethargic and one of his rear legs became paralyzed (finally recovered 11 days later, but was still weaker than before)...BUT, he is actually doing well now, believe it or not. He has regained the weight he lost, his rear leg is gaining strength (we STILL don't know what caused that), his thyroid levels are getting closer to normal. He is back to devouring his food, tons of tail wags, walks, and is even playful! I swear he knows now better than ever before how much I love him and we are closer than ever! Try to stay as positive as possible. I think of every day as a gift. I hope that you come through the storm as blessed with more quality time, as we did. You will be in our thoughts and prayers. Please update us on how you and your sweet dogs are doing.


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## PrincessDi (Jun 8, 2009)

Oh my gosh! I fell out of my chair reading everything that you've been thru with your kid! How awesome you are to have seen him through all of this, to make it to the other side of thriving again! 

My boy is definitely a Velcro boy. He is in my lap whenever I'm sitting. Isolation is another reason why we did not go that route. Honestly, the oncologist thought that radiation would achieve the same results with less time away from us. WSU was actually our 3rd opinion. Opinion 2 was a referral center Oncologist that was an excellent oncologist, but she thought he should be seen at WSU because they were able to provide all options. WSU calls me 2 times a day with updates. He is eating and sleeping well and doesn't seem to be having any problems. The Oncologist has mentioned that once they know what they are dealing with the other 2 cancers, he might benefit from Chemo. We could have WSU do the chemo, but would probably go to the 2nd opinion oncologist that is only 20 minutes away.

Hope your goldie continues to do well! Please stay in touch!


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## Rion05 (Jan 4, 2016)

Oh, and I forgot the week of nosebleeds! After radiation therapy ended and he was so thin and weak (his leg was temporarily paralyzed, remember), he actually sneezed and clunked his head on the floor...so then we had scary nosebleeds for a week (I've started blocking all of this bad stuff out already, because it was really just so scary). Every time the pancreatitis flared up or a scary symptom like this would start (he didn't eat well for MONTHS), I could almost SEE what was going through the the oncologist's mind..."hmmm, a golden, maybe the spleen pathology was wrong and he actually DOES have hemangiosarcoma." I would then start to worry about hemangiosarcoma all over again. Six months post splenectomy, though, and no sign of it (the nosebleeds really did just stop and seemed to have been caused by the sneeze)...I think it is really "just" thyroid cancer at this point. Because of the pancreatitis, he was receiving sub-Q fluids almost every day - which I had to learn to give...it was just so bad. But those days are behind us right now...almost unbelievable what we went through to come out the other side.

Chemo isn't particularly effective for thyroid cancer, but perhaps for other types of cancer. Keep holistic care as an option, too, even if it just improves quality of life. Wishing you all the best and yes, please keep us updated!


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