Mediastinal uptake of I-131 in a hiatal hernia mimicking recurrence of papillary thyroid carcinoma.

I-131 is used to image patients diagnosed with papillary or follicular carcinoma of the thyroid after thyroidectomy to observe for metastatic disease or residual thyroid tissue. I-131 is excreted in gastric mucosa and is seen in the esophagus after the swallowing of saliva. The authors describe a patient in whom radiopharmaceutical activity in the mediastinum was subsequently shown to be due to a hiatal hernia.