The American Hospital Dubai has become the first private hospital in the UAE to be licensed to provide radioiodine therapy to thyroid cancer patients, following a one-year project dedicated to building a new radiation therapy patient facility, developing hospital protocols for managing radioactive materials and staff training.

The Nuclear Medicine Department at the American Hospital Dubai has introduced a new radiation therapy as part of its comprehensive care for thyroid cancer patients, said a statement.

Radioiodine (iodine 131) is used in radiation therapy for thyroid cancer patients after surgery, to destroy any remaining cancer cells and to lower the risk of a recurrence of the disease, it said.

It is absorbed by the thyroid gland (which absorbs almost all of the iodine in the human body) and destroys the gland’s cells, including any cancer cells, with little effect on the rest of the body, and helping to improve the survival rates of patients.  

The hospital has been awarded the additional licenses required (UAE Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation and Dubai Health Authority) to handle high dose radioactive materials and to treat patients in the UAE, where there is growing demand for thyroid cancer treatment.

Thyroid cancer patients undergoing post-operative radioiodine therapy are administered the radioactive iodine (in a single dose, capsule form) in a specially constructed, lead-lined inpatient room at the hospital, and are isolated for the three to five-day period which the therapy takes to complete; treatment and patient care is provided by a specially trained team and all patient contact for care givers and family members/visitors is carefully controlled to minimise any risk of contamination by keeping the time of visits short, maintaining distance from the patient and using radiation shielding devices.

Once discharged, the patient can recuperate safely at home with some special conditions governing family contact.

Dr Shah Numani, consultant Nuclear Medicine and PET/CT, who is American Board Certified in Nuclear Medicine, said: “Previously, we were able to administer low dose radioiodine for non cancerous thyroid diseases and now we can provide total care to thyroid cancer patients. Thyroid cancer is a common form of cancer and we see many patients here who we treat surgically and then need this post operative radioiodine therapy, to complete the treatment.

“Many of these patients choose to go overseas for their therapy and we now have an option for them to undergo comprehensive treatment here in Dubai with the continuous support of the hospital’s multidisciplinary medical team.”

David Farrick, acting CEO of American Hospital Dubai, said: “The entire hospital project team including nuclear medicine, oncology, radiology, facilities management, surgery, radiation safety, bio-medicine, has done an extraordinary job in making this new therapy available to our patients in Dubai.

“It was a complex project with many challenging elements from constructing the physical environment to waste management – in addition to the actual treatment of patients. Radioiodine therapy is the final element in our comprehensive thyroid cancer care program. We are delighted that we have been able to pioneer this therapy and mark another milestone in the development of the UAE’s private healthcare sector, serving patients in the UAE community and from around the region and beyond.” - TradeArabia News Service