Impact of adjuvant therapy with lithium carbonate on the results of radioiodine treatment in patients with diffuse toxic goiter

Abstract

Thirty-eight patients with diffuse toxic goiter (Graves' disease) were treated with radioiodine. Before ¹³¹I therapy thyrotoxicosis compensation was achieved by antithyroid medication in all the patients. Antithyroid medication was discontinued 10 days before radioiodine treatment. After its withdrawal, the use of lithium carbonate successfully prevented the development of thyrotoxicosis before ¹³¹I therapy. The administration of the agent caused a reduction in the proportion of patients with thyrotoxicosis 1.5 months after ¹³¹I therapy. Lithium carbonate used 10 days before and 4 days after ¹³¹Itherapy exerted the most considerable effect, by reducing the volume of the thyroid gland. By month 3, hypothyroidism more promptly developed in lithium carbonate-untreated patients; by month 6, the rate of different treatment outcomes (hypothyroidism, euthyroidism, or thyrotoxicosis) did not virtually depend on any lithium carbonate treatment regiment.