BENIGN ORAL-DISEASE AS A CAUSE OF FALSE-POSITIVE I-131 SCANS

Post-thyroidectomy I-131 whore-body scintigraphy is an important aspec t in the management of patients with thyroid cancer. The scan is used to detect residual thyroid tissue and distant functioning metastases. Extrathyroid I-131 accumulation does not always denote metastatic dise ase, and several potential sources of false-positive I-131 scans have been identified. This report presents four cases of benign oral diseas e as a cause of false-positive I-131 uptake. Benign oral disease has n ot been documented previously as an important source of false-positive I-131 whole-body scans.