[Is it necessary to treat the autonomous thyroid adenoma?]

A treatment of the autonomous nodule in an euthyroid patient is still in question. We therefore compared our findings in treated and untreated patients with this disease. Pooling all datas of untreated patients, one got worse in 84 observed years while one got completely normal in 67 years. None of the 16 patients exposed to organic iodine developed a hyperthyroidism. In hyperthyroid patients with an autonomous nodule of the thyroid the disease was controlled by one low-dose Iodine-131 treatment in 82%, while the others needed one further dose to get euthyroid. Because of the high rate of spontaneous remission and the low complication rate were recommend a treatment of the autonomous thyroid nodule in euthyroidism only in selected cases. A careful follow-up should be done in all patients with thyroid disease, treated or untreated; an exacerbation of disease can be controlled by an Iodine-131-treatment.