[Iodine metabolism in leprosy patients (study using a whole-body radiometry method)]

A method of total body radiometry was used to study iodine metabolism in 47 patients with lepromatous leprosy. Disorders were found in 1/3 of the cases. The level of organic iodine in the body was the most informative of all iodine metabolism indices. In the active stage of leprosy it was twice as low, on an average, as the normal one, in the stage of incomplete and stable regression it rose not reaching, however, the values of healthy persons. The lowest mean value of an organic iodine level in the body was observed in patients with noticeable specific polyneuritis. The content of iodine in the thyroid of leprosy patients showed a tendency to a rise starting from the active stage, however it was only in the stages of incomplete and stable regression that it significantly exceeded the normal level. The data obtained should be considered during therapy of lepers to predict and control an unfavorable complication like specific polyneuritis.