Radiation, Thyroid Cells and¹³¹I Therapy—A Hypothesis

Abstract

Radiation, Thyroid Cells and 131 I Therapy-A Hypothesis R ADIOACTIVE iodine ( 131 I) has been widely used since 1948 (1) for the treatment of middle-aged and elderly thyrotoxic patients and a minority of younger cases in whom surgical or longterm antithyroid drug treatment was undesirable. Chapman and Maloof (2), Werner etal. (3), Bloomfield et al. (4) and Macgregor (5) have discussed, in some detail, their experience in the treatment of thyrotoxicosis with 131 I, and the observations by Werner et al. (3) that many patients treated with m I may subsequently develop late onset hypothyroidism have been fully revealed by recent reports of the long-term results The onset of the postradiation hypothyroidism is delayed in many patients for several years, and as a consequence the hypothyroid rate increases with the length of follow up and even after 15 years shows no sign of leveling off (7).