[Long-term results following surgery or radioiodine treatment of solitary autonomous adenoma of the thyroid gland].

128 patients were investigated after surgery (n = 72) or 131-iodine therapy (n = 56) of a scintigraphically solitary, hyperfunctioning adenoma of the thyroid gland. The median follow-up period amounted to 10.6 years. Recurrent hyperthyroidism was observed in six patients after surgery and in one patient after 131-iodine therapy. Hypothyroidism occurred in one patient after 131-iodine therapy. The percentage of 131-iodine treated patients with a normal TSH-response to TSH-releasing hormone (TRH) increased during the follow-up period from 57 to 90%, whereas after surgery the percentage of patients showing a normal TSH-response to TSH decreased from 58 to 31%. This latter observation points to persistent hyperfunctioning tissue areas inducing late recurrent hyperthyroidism in 8.3% of the patients who underwent surgery.