Your suppressed Tg should go to "undetectible" after your RAI (I'm still waiting for that word on my labs). :-(
My suppressed Tg is .02 - still measurable but non "undetectible"
As for the question from whittie - update in the thyroid bed (lower neck) is normal (and in the liver, and bladder, and colon) - it's the *amount* of uptake that is important. "Clean" means no significant uptake meaning no aggressive thyroid tissue (e.g., cancer).
Can I ask, is your scan supposed to be "clean" without any uptake right after your first RAI? My scan had uptake in the neck only and my doctor called that normal.
I don't know you - but it is always great news to here good thing!
Congrats on the scan results.
Hi,
My suppressed Tg was <1 when it was tested before RAI..
Will the Tg be eliminated to zero now because of the clean scan with RAI?
What was your unsuppressed Tg?
Or should I be concerned only by my suppressed Tg?
Ta
justin
Okay, my stupid Internet keeps dropping and I'm so ready to punch it so if this comes through twice, sorry.
First of all; WAHOO on the clean scan.
As for the Tg; what was your Tg level before the RAI? If it was higher than 3 then the RAI was "successful" and 3 becomes your new marker. The goal is usually <2.0 but, for now, 3 will be the number to stay at (or lower). Your Tg will need to be monitored every 6 months for a few years then (at least) annually after that. If it begins to climb, despite being on stable thyroid replacement, then it's time for another dose of the fun stuff.
Here's some info from labtestsonline.org:
Elevated levels of thyroglobulin do not in themselves imply a poor prognosis. In monitoring for cancer recurrence, change over time is more important than one particular thyroglobulin test result.
It is important to have serial thyroglobulin tests performed at the same laboratory because test methods may produce different results in different laboratories.
Fifteen to twenty percent of thyroid cancer patients have thyroglobulin antibodies (also called thyroglobulin autoantibodies). These antibodies can lead to falsely low or high thyroglobulin results depending on the method used.