Radiation-induced thyroid disease.

Ionizing radiation has been demonstrated to result in a number of changes in the human thyroid gland. At lower radiation dose levels (between 10 and 1500 rads), benign and malignant neoplasms appear to be the dominant effect, whereas at higher dose levels functional changes and thyroiditis become more prevalent. In all instances, the likelihood of the effect is related to the amount and type of radiation exposure, time since exposure, and host factors such as age, sex, and heredity. The author's current approach to the evaluation of patients with past external radiation therapy to the thyroid is shown in Figure 1. The use of prophylactic thyroxine (T4) therapy is controversial. While T4 therapy may not be useful in preventing carcinogenesis when instituted many years after radiation exposure, theoretically T4 may block TSH secretion and stimulation of damaged cells to undergo malignant transformation when instituted soon after radiation exposure.