Radioactive Iodine in the Therapy of Thyrotoxicoses.

摘要

Early in the twentieth century, an attempt at treating exophthalmic goiter with radium was made by Abbe, after which a noticeable decrease of the volume of the goiter was observed. The cited observation served as the basis for the application to the thyroid gland or irradiation by X-rays with therapeutic purposes; however, this method of treatment did not find acceptance, because of frequent relapses of the disease and complications (carcinoma of the skin). In connection with the selective adsorption of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland and its destructive action, which was shown for the first time in the experiment of Hamilton and Lawrence, the prerequisites for study of the therapeutic action of radioactive iodine (1131) arose, Hertz reported the successful clinical application of radioactive iodine in the treatment of several patients with thyrotoxicosis.