THE INFLUENCE OF PREOPERATIVE DRUG TREATMENT ON THE HISTOLOGICAL APPEARANCES AND IN VITRO131I UPTAKE OF HUMAN HYPERPLASTIC THYROID GLAND

The specimen of thyroid resected at partial thyroidectomy from 103 patients with primary thyrotoxicosis was studied with histometric and organ culture techniques. Twenty-seven patients had been prepared for operation with propranolol and seventy-six with carbimazole: all received Lugol's iodine for 10 days before operation. The resected specimen and deduced total thyroid weight was greater in the patients prepared with carbimazole. There was no absolute qualitative histopathological difference in the appearance of the glands of the two groups of patients, but histometry showed that the volume percentage of colloid and total gland colloid weight was significantly greater in the patients prepared with carbimazole: the volume percentage of epithelial cells and the total gland epithelial cell weight was similar in the two groups. The iodide concentrating capacity per g wet weight thyroid tissue or per unit volume of colloid did not differ significantly between the two groups. However, the iodide concentration capacity per unit volume of epithelial cells was significantly higher in the carbimazole prepared patients than in those prepared with propranolol.