The reactions of euthyroid and hyperthyroid glands to radioactive iodine.
BACKGROUND: Researchers generally assume that the thyroid gland reacts more or less comparably to external irradiation and radioactive iodine. DESIGN: The thyroid glands from 20 euthyroid patients and 20 hyperthyroid patients, all of which had been treated with radioactive iodine, were studied. RESULTS: The two groups manifested different reactions. Almost all the euthyroid glands displayed a fibrotic atrophic pattern, whereas the glands from the Graves' disease patients showed more adenomatous and Hashimoto lesions than atrophy. CONCLUSION: Differences in the reactivity of normal and hyperplastic follicles may cause different reactions to treatment with radioactive iodine.