Radioactive iodine (RAI) with I131 has an established role in managing differentiated thyroid carcinoma, namely papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and follicular thyroid carcinoma. However, concerns have been raised about its possible carcinogenic effects. Papers of t-CML following I131 are increasingly reported, and thus this review is dedicated to highlighting it.

All reports from the 1960s to date related to CML following RAI therapy were searched on Google Scholar and PubMed. Different search terms with Boolean function to search for the relevant articles.

We identified ten articles reporting 12 cases, as presented in table 1. We found that most of the reports were for men (8/12) under the age of 60 years (10/12), and the primary tumor was of PTC characteristics (5/12 were PTC, and 3/12 were mixed papillary-follicular carcinoma). The dose of I131 ranged between 30 millicuries (mCi) to 850 mCi; the mean dose was 331 mCi. Also, t-CML developed within the first ten years (9/12), mainly between 4-7 years post-exposure.

A few reports found a statistically significant increased risk of leukemia following RAI therapy; some suggested a relative risk of 2.5 for I131 vs. no I131. Observed findings from these studies include a linear relationship between the cumulative dose of I131 and the risk of leukemia, doses higher than 100 mCi were associated with a greater risk of developing secondary leukemia, and most of the leukemias developed within the initial ten years of exposure.