Xeroscintigraphy of thyroid gland in 56 patients submitted to thyroidectomy

The authors present a new method for xeroscintigraphic diagnosis in thyroid pathology. It consists of an exploration method by associating 2 kinds of radiations: X-rays and radioactive isotopes. The graphic peculiarities of these methods in obtaining the radiographic image on the semiconductor plate and its transfer onto special paper (instead of film which contains Ag) condition a very good presentation of bones, trachea, soft tissues in the cervical and cervico-endothoracic area. Front and side view cervical xerogram allows a correlation between an altered or enlarged thyroid gland with the organs and tissues in its neighbourhood, the pre- and retrotracheal spaces (intervertebro-tracheal) and others, including thyroid alterations with endothoracic localization. The possibility of recording scintigraphically (by an overlapping method) the state of functionality of the thyroid on a xeroradiogram and not on conventional paper (thyreoxeroscintigraphy) defines thyroid xeroscintigraphy as an important achievement in investigating the thyroid gland, a method of choice in preoperative exploration, producing a concomitant image of morphology, functional status and anatomotopography of the thyroid.