Thyroid Disorders in Elderly Patients: Hyperthyroidism Treatment
Hyperthyroidism in the elderly is a great masquerader, and even severe, life-threatening hyperthyroidism can easily be missed in patients older than 60 years.
Hyperthyroidism could be a life-threatening disease in the elderly and deserves prompt attention. There are readily available and effective treatments for all common types of hyperthyroidism. There are three treatment strategies for hyperthyroidism:
1. medication to suppress the gland
2. surgery to remove the hyperfunctioning tissue
3. radioactive iodine (RAI) to destroy the gland
Anti-thyroid Drugs
For patients with sustained forms of hyperthyroidism, such as Graves’ disease or toxic nodular goiter, anti-thyroid medications are often used. The goal with this form of drug therapy is to prevent the thyroid from producing hormones.
Two common drugs in this category are methimazole and propylthiouracil (PTU), both of which actually interfere with the thyroid gland’s ability to make its hormones.
Radioactive Iodine Treatment
Radioactive iodine is the most widely-recommended permanent treatment of hyperthyroidism. This treatment takes advantage of the fact that thyroid cells are the only cells in the body which have the ability to absorb iodine. In fact, thyroid hormones are experts at doing just that.
By giving a radioactive form of iodine, the thyroid cells which absorb it will be damaged or killed. Because iodine is not absorbed by any other cells in the body, there is very little radiation exposure (or side effects) for the rest of the body. Radioiodine can be taken by mouth without the need to be hospitalized. This form of therapy often takes one to two months before the thyroid has been killed, but the radioactivity medicine is completely gone from the body within a few days. The majority of patients are cured with a single dose of radioactive iodine.
