Life-Saving Radioiodine Capsules Unavailable in Chattogram for a Month: Post-Surgery Thyroid Cancer Therapy Stalled, Patients at Risk

After surgery, thyroid cancer patients must take a special capsule called radioiodine. But this capsule, the only one supplied through government channels, has been unavailable in Chattogram for the past month, leaving patients who have undergone surgery unable to receive this treatment on time.

The shortage of the life-saving medicine has left patients and their relatives in distress. Doctors say that if this therapy is delayed after surgery, there is a risk the cancer will spread through the body. The capsule had also been in short supply in January last year, before supplies arrived in August of that year.

The radioiodine capsule for thyroid cancer is supplied solely by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, the only government institution of its kind, run by the Atomic Energy Commission. It has no approval for private marketing, and the capsule is imported from South Africa and Poland.

Between 20 and 24 thyroid cancer patients receive treatment each month from this institute in Chattogram. In the current crisis, patients who have had thyroid cancer surgery have been told to wait for the medicine, without knowing when that wait will end.

The thyroid is a gland located at the base of the neck, below the thyroid cartilage, also known as the Adam's apple. When cancer develops in the cells of this gland, surgery removes it, and radioiodine therapy is then used to destroy any cancer cells remaining in the body.

Professor Dr Pobitra Kumar Bhattacharya, director of the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, said the capsule has been in short supply for some days. An application has already been made for the capsule and the process of bringing it in has begun. He hopes the capsule will be available soon.

He added that if the disease is detected at an early stage and the necessary treatment is given, 70 to 80 percent of thyroid cancer patients recover. The challenge, he said, is detecting it early — a remark that underlines how important timely treatment is for this disease.

At Chattogram Medical College Hospital's ear, nose and throat department, once a thyroid cancer patient is identified, surgery is arranged according to the condition of the disease, followed by radioiodine therapy depending on the type of disease. Cabin 12 of ward 29 at the hospital is reserved for these patients, who stay there for four to five days to receive the therapy.

A doctor at the hospital's ENT and head-neck surgery department, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that after thyroid cancer is diagnosed, surgery is performed if necessary, with an average of four to six thyroid cancer operations a month. After surgery, capsule therapy is given so the disease does not spread through the body. If the therapy is not given on time it may spread, so follow-up treatment is essential for the patient's recovery.

According to specialist doctors, cancer can develop in the butterfly-shaped thyroid gland at the front of the neck because of hormone deficiency or excess, making surgery essential. After surgery, radioiodine therapy uses the radioactive isotope iodine-131, which destroys cancer cells. Delays in receiving this therapy after removal of the thyroid gland can cause various complications in the patient's body. Thyroid cancer is of four types: papillary, follicular, medullary and anaplastic.

Although the sole supplier institution has begun the import process, it is still uncertain how many more days it will take for the capsule to arrive. Until then, uncertainty remains the companion of patients waiting for therapy after their operations.