Thyroid involvement resultant from combined exposure to radiation and endemic factors

Presents the results of examinations of 3465 adults and 3081 children exposed to radioactive iodine in region endemic for goiter Chernobyl accident. Direct dosimetry showed that equivalent doses which formed in the thyroid in children and a adults were rather low (mainly up to 200 sSv). Nodular goiter and cysts were more incident in subject exposed when adult, whereas in children chronic thyroiditis morphologically evaluated as subacute prevailed. A reliably increased of these diseases was associated with 200 to 500 sSv doses, this coinciding with microscopy data which confirmed a more intensive fluorescence of acetylcholine in C cells in this dose range. A conclusion is made about an appreciable increase in the incidence of modular goiter, cysts, and chronic thyroiditis in subjects exposed to 131 I in doses of 200 to 500 sSv, which is explained by radiation stimulation of C cells followed by development of the said processes. 5 refs.; 6 tabs