ABSTRACT
Thirty-eight patients with diffuse toxic goiter (Graves' disease) were treated with radioiodine. Before 131I therapy thyrotoxicosis compensation was achieved by antithyroid medication in all the patients. Antithyroid medication was discontinued 10 days before radioiodine treatment. After its withdrawal, the use of lithium carbonate successfully prevented the development of thyrotoxicosis before 131I therapy. The administration of the agent caused a reduction in the proportion of patients with thyrotoxicosis 1.5 months after 131I therapy. Lithium carbonate used 10 days before and 4 days after 131Itherapy exerted the most considerable effect, by reducing the volume of the thyroid gland. By month 3, hypothyroidism more promptly developed in lithium carbonate-untreated patients; by month 6, the rate of different treatment outcomes (hypothyroidism, euthyroidism, or thyrotoxicosis) did not virtually depend on any lithium carbonate treatment regiment.
ABSTRACT
Forty-eight patients with diffuse toxic goiter (Graves's disease) were treated with radioactive iodine in a dose of 5.3-30.0 mCi. A special formula considering the volume of the thyroid and post-24-hour capture of the diagnostic activity of radioactive iodine was used to calculate the optimum therapeutic activity. As a result, specific therapeutic activity (STA) correlated with specific activity and with the volume of thyroid. The high rate (33.3%) of recurrent thyrotoxicosis was observed when the calculated STA was less than 0 3 mCi/ml and reduced to 11.1% if a greater activity was applied. The use of the standard activity of radioactive iodine (10mCi) with a thyroid volume of up to 40 ml, as compared to that calculated by the formula results in the similar rate of ineffective radioiodine therapy for thyrotoxicosis at a lower incidence of euthyrosis.
ABSTRACT
Thirty-four pregnant women with nontoxic diffuse goiter (NDG), living in a mild iodine-deficiency area, were examined. The absence of iodine prophylaxis causes a higher than normal increase in thyroid-stimulating hormone levels by the end of pregnancy and a high frequency (87.5%) of hypothyroxinemia In the second half of pregnancy. These unfavorable events are prevented by the administration of iodine in a daily dose of 150-200 g; the early initiation of iodine prophylaxis is most effective. In women with NDG, pregnancy is most commonly complicated as threatening miscarriage, particularly in those who have not received iodine prophylaxis. Smoking during pregnancy enlarges the thyroid, which is not prevented by iodine prophylaxis.
