Therapy
Patients suffering from hot thyroid nodules do not necessarily need to be treated. If, however, an autonomous thyroid adenoma is accompanied by hyperthyroidism, it should be treated. The stress that the patient feels can vary from person to person.
Thus, if the hormone levels are the same, the same treatment need not follow. While there are several options for treatment, drug treatment is usually the treatment of choice. The thyroid cells are slowed down by medication.
This is done by inhibiting the iodine processing after it has been absorbed from the blood. As a result, less thyroid hormones are produced and the metabolic situation can normalize. Drugs with a corresponding effect are for example thiamazole or propylthiouracil.
Since there are dose-dependent side effects, the prescribed amounts should always be adhered to. Radioiodine therapy is a variant of the treatment of various thyroid diseases.This nuclear medicine therapy can also be used for hot nodules associated with hyperthyroidism. The patient is administered radioactive iodine.
By absorbing this iodine into the thyroid gland, a locally limited effect can be achieved. Since the substance also causes radiation damage, the metabolism is first slowed down and the cells lose their function, then reproduction is inhibited and finally cell death occurs. Due to the small range of therapeutic beta radiation (approx.
0.5 millimeters in tissue), which emanates from radioactive iodine, the neighboring organs are protected in the best possible way. In long-term studies, no increase in cancer cases could be observed after radioiodine therapy. Treatment must be carried out as an in-patient, even if the radiation exposure is only about as high as an X-ray.
The reason for this is the excretion of radioactive particles by the patient. If the consequences of one or more hot nodules could not be remedied by previous therapy, the nodules can also be removed. Another reason is a very large goiter (struma), which causes mechanical restrictions for the patient or an extensive infestation with cold nodes.
When removing the node, there are various possibilities to preserve thyroid tissue. On the one hand, it is possible to remove the round nodule with a certain safety distance and to leave most of the supposedly healthy tissue. On the other hand, a whole thyroid lobe (hemithyroidectomy) or even the entire thyroid gland (thyroidectomy) can be removed.
