Clinical analysis of radioactive iodine treatment in Graves hyperthyroidism patients with leucopenia / 中华核医学与分子影像杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the effects of 131I treatment for Graves hyperthyroidism patients with leucopenia and the alteration of WBC levels after treatment.Methods A total of 257 Graves hyperthyroidism cases were retrospectively studied after 131I treatment.Based on baseline WBC count,119 cases with WBC count ＜4.0 × 109/L before 131I treatment were diagnosed with leucopenia and 138 cases had normal WBC.There were no significant differences in age,weight of thyroid,131I uptake rate in 24 h,dose of 131I and course of the disease between the two groups (all t ＜ 0.972,all P ＞ 0.05).WBC,lymphocyte,neutrophil and platelet counts were recorded before and 1,3,6 and 12 months after 131I therapy.The therapeutic effects were graded as clinical cure,improvement,invalidation and hypothyroidism.Statistical analyses,including independent samples t test,x2 test and one-way analysis of variance,were performed using SPSS 13.0.Results The WBC levels in the leucopenia group were (3.49 ± 0.43) × 109/L,(4.06 ±0.98) × 109/L,(4.20 ±1.04) × 109/L,(4.37 ±0.93) × 109/L and (4.88 ± 1.20) × 109/L before 131I treatment and 1,3,6,12 months after 131I treatment,respectively; while,those in the normal WBC group were (5.70 ± 1.08) × 109/L,(5.50 ± 1.14) × 109/L,(5.74 ±0.99) × 109/L,(5.95 ± 1.14) × 109/L and (6.07 ± 1.17) × 109/L,respectively.There was no statistically significant difference of WBC levels before and 1 month after 131 I treatment (t =1.662,P ＞ 0.05) in the normal WBC group,but WBC levels at those timepoints were significantly different in the leucopenia group (t =3.816,P ＜ 0.05).In the leucopenia group,there was no significant change of lymphocytes before and after 131I treatment,while the average neutrophil count showed an increasing trend during the 1,3,6 and 12 months after 131I treatment (F =40.583,t1.468-11.264,all P ＜ 0.05).The average platelet counts at 6 and 12 months after 131I treatment were (187.80 ± 36.03) × 109/L and (206.88 ± 26.04) × 109/L respectively,which were higher than that before 131I treatment (F =9.735,t =2.604,4.892,all P ＜0.05).In the normal WBC group,there were no statistical differences of WBC changes before and after 131I treatment except for a lower lymphocyte count at 1 month after 131I treatment than that at baseline ((1.79 ± 0.37) × 109/L vs (1.99 ±0.63) × 109/L;F =12.868,t =3.284,both P ＜ 0.05).The treatment effects of the two groups were not significantly different (x2 =0.739,P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions 131I treatment presents similar therapeutic effects on Graves hyperthyroidism patients with leucopenia and those with normal WBC levels.WBC levels in patients with leucopenia may recover to baseline during the post-treatment follow-up.Thus 131I treatment is a safe and effective method for Graves hyperthyroidism patients with leucopenia.