Cure rate after 131I therapy for hyperthyroidism

The cure rate of hyperthyroidism after 131I therapy was analysed in 4473 patients, aged between 14 and 91 years, treated between 1951 and 1975. Despite unchanged treatment principles, the cumulative incidence of cure increased for each 5-year period. Within the first 4 months 34 per cent of the patients with diffuse thyroid glands treated during 1951-1955 were cured, as compared with 59 per cent of those treated 1971-1975, i.e. an increment by a factor of 1.7. The corresponding figures for patients with nodular thyroid glands were 23 and 54 per cent, respectively, or a factor of 2.3. (Auth.)