To analyze the efficacy of ¹³¹I therapy for Graves' disease, and to investigate the incidences of complete remission and hypothyroidism after single or multiple treatments.

Altogether 2 125 patients with Graves' disease(614 males, 1 511 females)aged(39.8±10.2)years received ¹³¹I treatment. The diagnostic and therapeutic procedures were carried out as follows: physical examination, determination of thyroid hormones and antibodies, undergoing ¹³¹I uptake test to obtain maximum of thyroid uptake value and effective half-life time, ultrasonography, thyroid imaging, calculating ¹³¹I therapeutic dosage, ¹³¹I treatment, follow-up appraisal of curative effect. The data were analyzed by χ² test, optimal scale regression, logistic regression and discriminant analysis.

The rates of complete remission, hypothyroidism, partial response, and invalid in the 2 125 cases more than half a year after ¹³¹I therapy were 54.3%, 21.3%, 20.3%, and 4.1% respectively. In all patients the rate of clinical cure(including complete remission and hypothyroidism)and rate of effectiveness were 75.6% and 95.9% respectively. The rate of recovery and incidence of hypothyroidism in patients who accepted single ¹³¹I treatment were 52.4% and 21.2% respectively, while in patients who accepted twice or multiple ¹³¹I therapy the respective figures became 66.2% and 21.8% accordingly. The influential factors in the effectiveness of ¹³¹I treatment included age, thyroid weight, TSH receptor antibody(TRAb), and dose of ¹³¹I per gram of thyroid.

Patients who did not achieve clinical cure for over 6 months after first ¹³¹I treatment, may receive another¹³¹I therapy to further improve the remission rate. Age, thyroid weight, TRAb etc, contribute to the efficacy of ¹³¹I therapy for Graves' disease. The multi-perspective and multi-factor analysis would have the benefit to establish individualized treatment strategy. (Chin J Endocrinol Metab, 2015, 31: 421-426)

Hyperthyroidism; ¹³¹I therapy; Dose; Follow-up studies