Long-Term Follow-up Results in Children and Adolescents Treated with Radioactive Iodine (131I) for Hyperthyroidism

Abstract

To evaluate the long-term results of ¹³¹I therapy for children, we studied the course of 87 patients (three to 18 years old, 24 boys and 63 girls) treated from 1949 through 1968, for hyperthyroidism due to Graves's disease. Dose of ¹³¹I per patient ranged from 2.9 to 31 mCi (mean ± S.D., 9.75 ± 6.5). Patients were followed for five to 24 years (mean, 12.3±3.5). Hyperthyroidism was controlled in 85 within one to 14 months (mean, 3.3±2.6). Recurrence of thyrotoxicosis due to toxic diffuse goiter, observed in only one case after 11 years, was successfully re-treated with ¹³¹I. Reproductive history and health status of the progeny of ^13lI-treated patients were not different from those of the general population. No deaths and no cancer or leukemia were observed in patients or their offspring. The major cause of goiter regrowth was Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Hypothyroidism developed in 35 of 76 patients (46 per cent). ¹³¹I deserves further use in treatment of hyperthyroid children with Graves's disease (N Engl J Med 292:167–171, 1975)