The use of radioactive iodine to treat thyroid cancer increased 40 percent from 1990 to 2008 even though the risks may outweigh the benefits for some patients, particularly those with early-stage tumors, researchers said. About 56 percent of thyroid cancer patients in 2008 were treated with radioactive iodine, which is used after the thyroid is removed to treat residual cancer, compared with 40 percent in 1990, according to a study today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Determining who gets the treatment doesn’t always depend on how severe the cancer is, researchers found.
