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Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the effect of adjuvant lithium therapy on the efficacy of radioactive iodine therapy in hyperthyroidism.Methods: This was a prospective simple randomised comparative, experimental cohort study of hyperthyroid patients for radioactive iodine (RAI) ablation therapy. A total of 163 of the 185 hyperthyroid patients recruited completed the study. Cure was defined by achievement of euthyroidism or hypothyroidism.Results: From of total of 163 patients, 75 received RAI alone and 88 received RAI with lithium. Those who received RAI with adjuvant lithium showed a higher cure rate (78.4%) compared with those who received RAI only (68.1%) (p = 0.002). At one month post RAI therapy, 27.4% of patients who received RAI with adjuvant therapy were cured. This finding showed a trend of being significant compared with just 14.5% cure rate in the group of patients who received RAI alone (p = 0.08). This is an indication of a faster cure rate for patients receiving RAI wit...

To study the effect of adjuvant lithium on serum thyroxine (T4) concentrations in patients treated with radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy in our environment. This was a prospective simple randomized comparative, experimental cohort study of patients with hyperthyroidism referred for RAI ablation therapy in the two main academic hospitals in Johannesburg between February 2014 and September 2015. Amongst the 163 participants in the final analysis, 75 received RAI alone and 88 received RAI with lithium. The difference in mean T4 concentrations at 3 months between the RAI-only group (17.67 pmol/l) and the RAI with lithium group (11.55 pmol/l) was significant with a small effect size (U = 2328.5, Z = −2.700, p = 0.007, r = 0.01). Significant decreases in T4 concentrations were observed as early as 1 month after RAI (p = 0.0001) in the RAI with lithium group, but in the RAI-only group, significant decreases in T4 concentrations were observed only at 3 months after RAI therapy (p = 0.000). Women and patients with Graves’ disease who received RAI with adjuvant lithium also showed significant decreases in T4 concentrations at 1 month (p = 0.002 and p = 0.003, respectively). Adjuvant lithium leads to an earlier and better response to RAI therapy with lower T4 concentrations that are achieved earlier. This earlier response and decrease in T4 concentrations were noted in patients with Graves’ disease and nodular goitre, and in women with hyperthyroidism who received adjuvant lithium therapy.