REDUCTION OF THYROID VOLUME FOLLOWING RAD IOIODINE THERAPY FOR FUNCTIONAL AUTONOMY

In a retrospective study we evaluated the data of 112 patients who und erwent radioiodine treatment for functional autonomy of the thyroid at Essen University Hospital from 1988 to 1993. Therapeutic activities o f radioiodine were administered after individual determination of acti vity for intended radiation doses (150-300 Gy) taking into considerati on autonomously functioning volume, maximum uptake, and effective half -life. The achieved dose was calculated by means of measurement of the radioiodine kinetics during therapy. Depending on the type of autonom ous function of the thyroid (solitary autonomously functioning nodule, multiple autonomously functioning nodules, autonomously functioning t hyroid tissue) volume reductions between 39 and 46% were found approxi mately 6 months after treatment.