Analysis of demographic and clinical factors affecting the outcome of radioiodine therapy in patients with hyperthyroidism

Introduction

The influence of demographic and clinical factors on the outcome of ¹³¹I therapy in hyperthyroid patients has been examined, based on a retrospective evaluation of results obtained in patients submitted to ¹³¹I treatment at the Department of Nuclear Medicine and Oncological Endocrinology, Medical University of Lodz (Province Hospital, Zgierz). The goal of the study was to analyse such factors as the age and sex of patients, disease duration, as well as the hormonal status before ¹³¹I application, which could have an influence on the effects of therapy with radioiodine ¹³¹I.

Material and methods

The study involved 500 randomly selected patients with hyperthyroidism, treated with ¹³¹I radioiodine. The following 3 groups were defined: group 1 – patients with multinodular goitre (MNG), n = 200; group 2 – patients with a single autonomous nodule of the thyroid (AFTN), n = 100; group 3 – patients with Graves’ disease (GD), n = 200. The local ethics committee (in the Polish Mother''s Memorial Hospital – Research Institute, Lodz) approved the study.

Results

The obtained results indicate that the efficacy of therapy with ¹³¹I applied in patients with MNG, AFTN and GD does not depend on either patient sex or patient age. The length of antithyroid treatment before ¹³¹I therapy onset does not appear to have any effect on the therapy outcome, and the baseline thyrotropin concentration seems to be significant only in the case of GD.

Conclusions

The analysed demographic factors do not affect the outcome of ¹³¹I therapy in hyperthyroidism.