[Fluorescent thyroid scanning and intrathyroidal iodine quantification: study in 140 patients (author's transl)]

The system consists of twenty individual sorces of one Ci of 241Am and a high resolution lithium drifted silicon detector. A dual channel analyser permits to measure intrathyroidal stable iodine. The scan requires only 13 minutes and can be made with a very low radiation dose (less than 10 mrads). It provides good quality images and remains available in cases of flooded iodine pools or iodine induced thyrotoxicosis. It is of great interest to follow up subacute thyroiditis and to diagnose autonomous nodules without TSH stimulation. Thyroid stable iodine was measured in vivo in 104 patients. Normal female thyroid glands contained 5,5 +/- 1 mg stable iodine. In hyperthyroidism (10 patients), iodine values are low or elevated. An inverse relationship exists between thyroidal stable iodine and values of T4 or T3.