Radiation Induced Thyroid Diseases

The thyroid gland is particularly susceptible to damage from radiation, and the pathology related to radiation has been studied in a number of different settings: therapeutic radiation, whole body radiation, and radiation from nuclear fall-out from nuclear disasters and nuclear warfare, and from therapeutic administration of radioactive I-131. The ramifications to the thyroid gland are dependent on the dose of the radiation, the age of the patient at exposure, and the thyroid functional status at the time of radiation. The epidemiology and pathlogy of radiation-induced thyroid disease, including inflammatory, nodular, and neoplastic conditions, is discussed. Many studies have indicated that radiation induced tumors have a unique morphology and are more aggressive, particularly in patients studied from the Chernobyl disaster in the mid-1980s. These features are discussed, along with recent evidence that these features are unique to the geographic region around Chernobyl and not to an association with radiation. The pathologic features thought to be associated with radiation induced diseases are also discussed.