Subacute Thyroiditis (De Quervain Thyroiditis)(SAT)

Female 54 year old, with symptoms of thyrotoxicosis. The endocrinologist referred her to make a differential diagnosis between classic hyperthyroidism and thyroiditis. On the 99mTc scan done at 20 min after injecting 15 mCi (555 MBq) of sodium pertechnechtate, there is poor gland uptake (arrows), consistent with subacute thyroiditis.

            Either thyroid scintigraphy or RAIU can be used to demonstrate the low iodine gland uptake. The results on this research show that either poor thyroid visualization on thyroid scan, or low uptake with I-131 at 2 hours ( 4%) and at 24 hours ( 5%), have better correlation with the clinical diagnosis of SAT than those with ultrasound (1).

References:

1  Gonzalez Patricio, Liberman Claudio, Quevedo Lidya and Jaimovich Rodrigo. A Comparison Between Two Imaging Techniques for the Diagnosis of Subacute Thyroiditis (De Quervain Thyroiditis). Clin Nucl Med 2010;35: 862–864.

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