THE COURSE OF HYPERTHYROIDISM UNDER IODINE MEDICATION

When the iodine remission in hyperthyroidism is complete, it is one of the most striking of therapeutic transformations. The process is now well known.¹ During an investigation of this remission in 1923,² two other associated reactions of hyperthyroidism to iodine were noted; namely, the gradual return of the disease during continued iodine administration, when there was no operative intervention, and the sudden exacerbation after the iodine was stopped. Repeated clinical experiences with these three phenomena have led to the impression that they form a sequence through which the disease will pass when the patient is treated with daily doses of iodine for a definite period. This whole course cannot be experimentally studied in patients, since it must be interrupted by thyroidectomy; but the regularity with which recurrence and postiodine reaction occur when the opportunity arises leaves little doubt that they are constant phases of the effect of iodine on the