Both conditions can cause lifelong disability. Other transient complications include hypocalcemia, post-operative bleeding, wound infection, keloid formation, and scars. Finding a well experienced surgeon is of paramount importance. Recurrences may develop many years after surgery. John Pacer, PhD, a physical chemist in Allentown, Pennsylvania, recently reminded me that radioisotopes are abundant in nature and work to maintain homeostasis by a process of natural selection.
Radioisotopes are present in many fruits, including bananas and tomatoes, and in many types of wood.
Radioiodine, an isotope of iodine and a product of nuclear fission introduced in the mid-1940 s, has become the most widely used treatment of adults with thyrotoxicosis in the United States. It is also the cheapest and fastest form of therapy and has the most potential to cause hypothyroidism. Radioiodine also releases autoantibodies into the circulation and heightens the immune response, exacerbating symptoms and contributing to a transient period of exaggerated symptoms. The release of stored hormone also causes a temporary exacerbation of symptoms. These effects may cause thyroid storm.