Objective: To detect whether the adverse effects of post-operative radioactive iodine therapy following differentiated thyroid cancer on smell, taste and nasal functions were associated with radioactive iodine dose.
Methods: Fifty-one patients who had undergone total thyroidectomy because of differentiated thyroid cancer were divided into two groups depending on the post-operative radioactive iodine therapy dose: low dose group (50 mCi; 21 patients) and high dose group (100-150 mCi; 30 patients). The Sniffin' Sticks smell test, the Taste Strips test and the 22-item Sino-Nasal Outcome Test were performed on all patients one week before therapy, and at two months and one year following therapy.
Results: Statistically significant differences were detected in the Sniffin' Sticks test results, total odour scores, total taste scores and Sino-Nasal Outcome Test results between the assessment time points. There was no statistically significant difference between the low and high dose groups in terms of odour, taste or Sino-Nasal Outcome Test scores either before or after therapy.
Conclusion: Radioactive iodine therapy has some short- and long-term adverse effects on nasal functions and taste and odour sensations, which affect quality of life. These effects are not dose-dependent.
Keywords: Radioactive Iodine; SNOT-22; Smell; Taste.