Abstract: ¹³¹I whole body imaging can provide the main basis for the diagnosis and treatment of metastasis or recurrence of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). It is an indispensable method of clinical diagnosis and treatment at present. However, due to a variety of physiological or pathological reasons, ¹³¹I whole body imaging may be false positive, which makes it difficult to correctly interpret ¹³¹I whole body imaging and judge whether there is recurrence and metastasis. Therefore, it is of great value to be familiar with the causes of false positive ¹³¹I whole body imaging for the correct diagnosis and treatment of DTC patients. The authors reviewed the causes of false positive ¹³¹I whole body imaging in patients with DTC from the perspective of etiology.