Influence of Short-Term Interruption of Antithyroid Drugs on the Outcome of Radioiodine Therapy of Graves' Disease: Results of a Prospective Study

 

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Abstract

Aim: The factors influencing success of treating Graves' disease with radioiodine (¹³¹I) are discussed controversially. This study analyses prospectively the influence of discontinuing antithyroid drugs (ATD) immediately prior to treatment with radioiodine on the therapeutic outcome. Methods: We studied 141 patients with Graves' disease. In 73 of them (group A) treatment was performed under medication with ATD, in 68 patients (group B) ATD were discontinued for 3 - 7 days starting at the time of therapy. We performed a statistical analysis of the influence of ATD and other factors potentially influencing treatment results. Results: In group A 49/73 patients were treated successfully (67 %) vs. 58/68 (85 %) in group B (p < 0.01). Characteristic changes in the kinetics of radioiodine were observed: after discontinuing ATD specific uptake was higher (2.0 %/ml in group A vs. 2.6 %/ml in group B, p = 0.004), and the effective half life was longer (5.1 ± 1.3 d in group A vs. 5.5 ± 1.1 d in group B, p = 0.076) resulting in a significantly higher radiation dose in group B (200 ± 61 Gy in group A vs. 236 ± 72 Gy in group B, p = 0.002). Conclusion: We conclude that short-term interruption of ATD improves the success rate of treating Graves' disease with radioiodine significantly.

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MD Susanne-Martina Eschmann

Department of Nuclear Medicine
University of Tuebingen

Otfried-Mueller-Str. 14

72076 Tuebingen

Germany

Phone: +49/7071/2986412

Fax: +49/7071/295869

Email: susanne-martina.eschmann@med.uni-tuebingen.de