Treatment of Goiter and Thyroid Nodules with Thyroid

Abstract

The effectiveness of orally administered thyroid substance in the treatment of simple goiter was noted 70 years ago, but its justification awaited the modern discovery of the relation of the thyroid to the thyrotropic hormone of the hypophysis. The present analysis of 230 cases of simple goiter demonstrates the value of thyroid U.S.P., which was given in single daily doses, usually of 180 mg. at the outset. This amount caused mild symptoms of overdosage in 16% of the patents and in some cases it had to be increased in order to obtain the desired regression. Thyroid nodules and simple goiter were reduced in size or disappeared in about two-thirds of the cases. This corroborates the older clinical observations as well as the underlying theory and indicates that simple goiter is essentially a benign process.