total thyroidectomy and Rai

[TiagoMontana]

Hello lovely people, last year I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and I had a total thyroidectomy followed by Rai treatment 8 months ago. My question is, is it okay to go back to diving. Thank you in advance for your help

 

[JMBL]

Hi,

I can give you half an answer : my thyroid was removed in 2000, not for cancer though. The medical advice was : wait until your treatment with levothyroxine is settled and you'll be ok to dive.

Your personal physician should be be able to help you with the answer to your question, or refer you to a specialist, if he's out of his depths.

Hope it helped.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Hello lovely people, last year I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and I had a total thyroidectomy followed by Rai treatment 8 months ago. My question is, is it okay to go back to diving. Thank you in advance for your help

The general answer is that there's nothing that would prevent an otherwise healthy individual who's had a thyroidectomy, has not experienced any complications, and is stable on medication (if needed) as @JMBL pointed out, from diving. As far as whether you specifically can return to diving and if so when, that's something best discussed with the surgeon who is following your case.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[Doctorfish]

In general, if you completed your treatment 8 months ago, there were no surgical complications, and your thyroid hormone level is where it should be ( TSH suppressed after thyroid cancer surgery ) it should absolutely be safe to return to diving.

P.S. I happen to be an Endocrine Surgeon

 

[TiagoMontana]

Thank you very much for your reply I really appreciate it

 

[Kimela]

Late to the party - follow-up question. I’ve read that hyperbaric treatment can be great for osteoradionecrosis (a semi-rare complication after head and neck radiation). However, I’ve also read that it can be contraindicated unless the docs are certain that the cancer is gone, because the extra oxygen will feed the cancer.

If there is the possibility there is still cancer in the body should the patient NOT dive nitrox? Will the bump from 21% to 32% make that much of a difference?

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Late to the party - follow-up question. I’ve read that hyperbaric treatment can be great for osteoradionecrosis (a semi-rare complication after head and neck radiation). However, I’ve also read that it can be contraindicated unless the docs are certain that the cancer is gone, because the extra oxygen will feed the cancer.

If there is the possibility there is still cancer in the body should the patient NOT dive nitrox? Will the bump from 21% to 32% make that much of a difference?

There were some concerns about that many years ago but they've not been borne out in the literature:

Hyperbaric oxygen: does it promote growth or recurrence of malignancy? - PubMed

It has been a concern that a therapeutic modality recommended as an adjunct to healing and administered to promote proliferation of fibroblasts, epithelial cells and blood vessels in a wound could also lead to proliferation of malignant cells and angiogenesis in a malignant tumor. The first...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy and cancer—a review - PMC

Hypoxia is a critical hallmark of solid tumors and involves enhanced cell survival, angiogenesis, glycolytic metabolism, and metastasis. Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) treatment has for centuries been used to improve or cure disorders involving hypoxia and ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I'm not aware of any evidence that suggests that using nitrox will promote cancer growth.

Best regards,
DDM