The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Man strip searched for packing overactive thyroid gland

US border patrol steps over the line

Cloud storage: Lower cost and increase uptime

A man who had receieved radiotherapy set off alarms at US airport security and was detained, interrogated and strip searched.

A report in the British Medical Journal says the 46-year-old had been treated with radioiodine for thyroid problems six weeks prior to the incident.

Learning of the invasive episode, the man's doctors trawled medical journals and found details of four earlier incident of radiotherapeutics triggering security alerts. Reports last year revealed heart patients given thallium for medical imaging could have a similar effect on airport scanners.

The authors of the report said: "Airports worldwide are deploying more sensitive radiation detection systems and one would therefore expect more such cases."

Radioiodine is used in cases of overactive thyroid gland, administered as a drink. It is transported in the bloodstream to the thymyus, where the radioactivity kills some cells, bringing the condition under control. Around 10,000 are given the treatment annually in the UK.

Its thought scanners could detect the iodine up to 12 weeks after the treatment. The authors call for patients to be warned they could face the rubber glove when travelling.®

Customer Success Testimonial: Recovery is Everything

More from The Register

Boffins find evidence Atlantic Ocean has started closing
'Embryonic subduction zone' that flattened Lisbon headed for Blighty
Google launches broadband balloons, radio astronomy frets
A careless Loon could blind the square kilometre array
 breaking news
You've seen the Large Hadron Collider. Now comes the HUGE Hadron Collider
International Linear Collider ready to rock and roll
Headbangers have a gas, gas, gas in mosh pits
Boffins say heavy metal crowds behave like The Vapours
Hubble spies unlikely planet being born in hostile neighborhood
Hoovering a cloud of sand 7.5 billion miles from a tiny star
 breaking news
Jaguar to open new car-making factory in Blighty (virtually)
Britain still makes stuff, it's just not real any more...
New material enables 1,000-meter super-skyscrapers
Before you read on, see if you can guess how the new stuff will be used
 breaking news
China's second woman 'naut blasts off for coupling in HEAVEN
Wang and pals test the cosmic waters for Chinese space station
Scientists investigate 'dark lightning' threat to aircraft passengers
One stormy flight could give lifetime radiation dose
 breaking news
Chinese 'nauts prep for next coupling in Heaven, clear way for new station
Second woman taikonaut and pals test tech for China's own orbiting platform