RADIOACTIVE IODINE THERAPY

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Abstract
Therapy of neoplastic disease usually consists of two phases: first, the treatment of the primary focus and, second, that of metastases. Specifically, in adenocarcinoma of the thyroid, the primary site together with its immediate extensions is conventionally treated by surgery, radiation or both. Distant metastases, if treated, are usually subjected to palliative external irradiation. This paper is a report of successful therapy of a case of metastatic adenocarcinoma of the thyroid treated by the principle of specific internal irradiation with radioactive iodine. The earliest study of the uptake of radioactive iodine in 2 cases of carcinoma was reported by Hamilton and his associates1in 1940. In 1942 he described 2 more cases2in which tracer doses of radioactive iodine had been given to the patients prior to the removal of carcinomatous thyroids. Radioautographs of the excised glands showed no significant deposition of the radioactive iodine in malignant areas