[Scintigraphic method in the quantification of morphological and functional changes of thyroid autonomy before and after iodine radiotherapy]. / Szintigraphisches Verfahren zur Quantifizierung der morphologischen und funktionellen Veränderungen der thyreoidalen Autonomie vor und nach Radiojodtherapie.

The regional excess of function and cell mass in potentially "toxic" thyroid areas with nonimmunogenic hyperthyroidism (NIH) (unifocal [UFA, previously "toxic adenoma"] and multifocal functional autonomies [MFA or "toxic goiter"]) are quantified by an enhanced diagnostic method: double isotope subtraction scintigraphy (Ssc) with radioiodine and 99mTc-MIBI. In 125 patients, a toxicity index T was derived from the Ssc (*J-*MIBI), and a cell density index Q from the *MIBI image. The median value of T, as an expression of the regional autonomous excess function (165 in UFA, 15 in MFA), by far exceeded the median value of Q (3.8 in UFA, 2.0 in MFA). The significant (p < 0.001) effects of radioiodine therapy (RIT) were monitored by the changes towards normalization of T and Q in 53 patients in follow-ups 3 and 9 months thereafter. Our aim was (a) to extend the conventional field of measurement of NIH-hyperthyroidism with the scintigraphically quantified function and morphology, and (b) to compare the return to euthyroid state with scintigraphic scarification of the functionally autonomous areas.

[Long-term results following treatment of spondylitis]. / Langzeitergebnisse nach Spondylitisbehandlung.

The preliminary results of a follow-up examination of patients with spondylitis are presented. The 127 patients concerned comprised 94 specific and 33 nonspecific cases. With the combination of conservative treatment (immobilisation, chemotherapy) and surgery (excision of an abscess, chip spondylodesis), all but two of the infections (one progressive infection, one recurrence) proved manageable. At the time of the follow-up examination, bony reorganisation had occurred in all but 8 cases. But also the segments in which bony reorganisation had not yet taken place, were functionally stable. Despite the good physical results of treatment, the social impairment due to the disease remained considerable. The results obtained compare well with those reported in the literature (2).