Toxic Adenoma of the Thyroid

Abstract

Toxic adenoma accounted for 9.5 % of a series of 680 thyrotoxic patients. Comparison of the 65 cases of toxic adenoma with the 615 cases of Graves disease revealed that the former group presented a milder clinical picture, without overt toxicity in about 40 % of the cases. The laboratory values also showed a greater overlap with the normal range. The plasma Protein - Bound¹³¹I level was more often abnormal than the ¹³¹I uptake values. A definite diagnosis of toxic adenoma can be established only by scintigrams of the thyroid gland before and after exogenous TSH administration. Surgery is the treatment of choice, but in selected cases treatment with ¹³¹I may be undertaken. Radioisotopic treatment in 26 cases of toxic adenoma had excellent results as far as the thyroid hyperfunction was concerned. However, the large doses of ¹³¹I required make same caution necessary.

Key words

Toxic Thyroid Adenoma - Diagnosis of Toxic Thyroid Adenoma - Treatment of Toxic Thyroid Adenoma

1 This work has been supported in part by Public Health Service Research Grant No. AM 08987 from the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases. We thank Mr. J. Sfontouris, M. Sc., for his help with the radioisotopic aspects of this work.