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A Rapid Cure for Toxic Multinodular Goiter? | |
According to researchers reporting at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), patients with toxic multinodular goiter who receive the maximum allowable outpatient dose of radioactive iodine-131 to ablate the thyroid – known as radioiodine ablation therapy -- can be cured in a single treatment.
According to the researchers, normal thyroid function was achieved at a mean level of 121 days, or in approximately four month. More than 80% of patients had normal thyroid function within six months. Approximately 20 percent of patients became hypothyroid, and all did so within a year, but 80% of them within 6 months.Doses of radioactive iodine have ranged based on where the treatment is provided, in some cases a standard dose has been applied, in other, doses were based on weight. But these researchers identified that going to the highest possible dose considered safe could resolve the thyrotoxicosis as quickly as possible, with the primary risk being resulting hypothyroidism.
Source: American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists – May 2002 Proceedings
