Prevention is sometimes very important in the fight against diseases of the thyroid gland. This is most clearly in the control of endemic goiter - a disease caused by lack of iodine in the environment. In such cases, the prophylactic use of iodized salt and the incidence is significantly reduced.

Prevention of endemic goiter

Endemic goiter - a disease associated with a deficiency of iodine in the environment. Iodine is needed for the cells of the thyroid gland hormone synthesis, affecting the entire body. And as the hormones secreted enough, the body tries to compensate for this deficit by proliferation of the cells of the thyroid gland. As a result, the thyroid gland increases in size, that is formed goiter. The iodine content of disadvantaged geographical areas the number of patients with endemic goiter Endemic goiter - if not enough iodine   sharply increased. In our country, there are areas in the mountainous region (the Urals, North Caucasus, Altai), as in the plains (valley of large Siberian rivers). The majority of our population lives in the geographical area with mild iodine deficiency.

Endemic goiter was known to the ancient physicians, they tied his appearance with living in mountainous terrain and poor-quality drinking water. There have been known methods for combating this disease - algae and sea salt. In the mid-nineteenth century French doctors offered Brown and Prevost performed in the prevention of goiter endemic areas using iodine.

Today, prevention of endemic goiter is a whole set of measures aimed at preventing the disease. But the basis of this set of measures is mass iodine prophylaxis. And since in conditions of iodine deficiency live virtually all of Russia's population, each person should receive daily an extra dose of iodine: children - 100 mcg, adults - 150 mg, adolescents, pregnant women and nursing mothers - 200 mcg, with children up to a year receive the required dose of iodine from mother's milk.

Prevention of endemic goiter can be:

• Mass - Iodine added to the most essential food, mainly salt, bread, tea; a salt of potassium iodide is added, which does not change its taste; adding iodine in animal feed leads to an increase of its content in the meat;
• Group - among certain population groups most in need of iodine - adolescents, pregnant women and nursing mothers; these groups iodo assigned for a long time in the form of medicines and food supplements containing iodine;
• individual - preventive measures for individuals; appointed for this purpose as the iodine and foods rich in iodine, such as marine fish, seafood, seaweed, fish oil Fish oil - so whether it is useful to think? ; recommended to reduce the consumption of animal fat and increase the intake of vegetable fats; food must contain a lot of vitamins and minerals, the lack of them also contributes to the development of endemic goiter.

Prevention of diffuse toxic goiter

Diffuse (general, applies to the whole breast tissue), thyroid enlargement Increase in thyroid - that underlies the disease   with its hyperactivity (increase in function, that is, the production of thyroid hormones), causing a metabolic disorder and the development of pathological changes in all organs, it was called diffuse toxic goiter.

The primary cause of Graves' disease are genetic disorders of cancer, inflammation, autoimmune (allergic to thyroid tissue) character. But the starting point, are often stress, viral infections (such as flu), frequent exacerbation of chronic diseases (eg, chronic tonsillitis), overheating in the sun.

Because the causes of disease and its prevention follows. First of all, it is a warning of severe neuropsychiatric stress, stress. If a person can not change any external circumstances, he should change his attitude toward them, or trouble with health can not be avoided. Most important is the psychological climate in the family and at work. It is necessary to organize your day so it was a place and work and recreation. Especially important is the struggle with insomnia, which often underlies stress.

Equally important is the prevention of colds and exacerbations of chronic infectious-inflammatory processes (eg, chronic tonsillitis). These are the most common diseases provoke the development of thyroid disease The thyroid gland - is responsible for your hormones . Prevention of these diseases - is hardening, the maximum exposure to fresh air, physical activity.

And, of course, you need to carefully monitor their health and promptly seek medical attention. This is especially true of those who have close relatives suffering from a disease of the thyroid gland. The earlier revealed diffuse toxic goiter, the easier it is to treat.

Among the therapeutic measures available to the medicine in the thyroid pathology, there are methods of conservative treatment and surgical treatment methods. Treatment of thyroid surgery without fully justified in pathological conditions that require only medication to restore the functional activity of the body. Defines the physician taking into account the nature of the disease, presence of complications and comorbidities.

Methods of medical correction of violations

Of the drugs that can be administered to patients with various disorders of the thyroid gland by the use thyreostatics and thyroid hormones Thyroid hormones: mechanism of action and physiological effects   during hormone replacement therapy. The main indication for thyreostatics a goiter (or DTG), against the background normalization of elevated hormone levels. From this group of drugs used Mercazolilum methylthiouracil and their effectiveness is proven on the basis of the extensive experience of clinical application of these drugs. It is noted that Mercazolilum has some advantages over other drugs due to its mechanism of action. It not only blocks making process gland hormones, thus exhibits an immunosuppressive action. Other drugs with the same effect on the immune system can not selectively accumulate in the thyroid gland The thyroid gland - is responsible for your hormones . Mercazolilum be used to treat goiter any severity with increasing gland to the third degree. If iron is large, it is recommended to use tireostatiki in terms of preoperative preparation. The question of how long the patient should receive tireostatiki must be determined individually and in this regard has not yet developed a unified tactics. Caution is a long reception merkazolila in individuals who are prone to recurrence of the pathological process in the gland. In such cases it is better not to assign circuits long as there is the risk of the development of pathological processes related to morphological changes in the tissue of the organ.

In the case of the state of hypothyroidism with the aim of substitution prescribers thyroid .  Tireodin, thyroxine, and Thyreocombum tireotom best-known drugs of this group .  Some drugs are combined, as they contain several components .  For example, the composition includes Thyreocombum hormones T3 and T4, and potassium iodide .  When assigning any of these drugs, the principle of gradually increasing doses, in particular in case of replacement therapy .  It is important to pay not only for the patient's age and on the duration and severity of the disease .  The harder and longer, patients with hypothyroidism were no special treatment, the more they will be receptive to the input thyroid drugs (primarily in terms of adverse events during therapy), so you should take into account the existence of the adaptation process at the beginning of substitution therapy .  In this regard, better stick to the circuit gradually increasing doses of the drug .  It is recommended to start with the lowest dosage (for this dose of thyroxine is up to 25 mg), and increased gradually to 100 mg or 200 mg, depending on the clinical situation .  Increasing the dose should be for four weeks at 25 mg .  To reduce the development of several negative developments from the heart of the system during hormone therapy, you must at the same time an appointment drugs blockers .  They are assigned to the minimum dose and contribute to better tolerability .

Possible applications of radioactive iodine for medicinal purposes

The use of radioactive iodine I131 in the thyroid pathology was preceded by a large number of experimental tests on animals. It was found the ability to completely destroy the isotope of iodine the thyroid gland without damaging other organs and body systems, while it accumulates in the gland unequally and selectively. The currently applied therapy with radioactive iodine isotopes, but it must be evidence of:

• age of patients less than 40 years
• the presence of severe heart failure, when surgical treatment, or contraindicated due to the high risk of complications
• the combination of thyroid disease with other severe somatic diseases (tuberculosis, myocardial infarction, marked hemorrhagic syndrome, etc.)
• recurrence of hyperthyroidism after the removal of the prostate in the amount of subtotal thyroidectomy
• in the event of the patient from surgical treatment

This type of therapy is performed only after preliminary preparation of the patient in hospital. It includes the prevention of heart failure, as well as mandatory appointment thyreostatics. Efficient preparation for the upcoming treatment with a radioactive isotope of iodine is still the appointment of a full course of vitamin therapy with mandatory inclusion of drugs vitamins C and B. This will determine the effectiveness of the course of treatment. Positive results can be seen after two or three weeks after his graduation, a full recovery will happen in three months. Percentage of relapse of hyperthyroidism condition is rare and it is possible in the treatment of mixed forms of goiter. If radioactive iodine is used to treat diffuse goiter Diffuse goiter - pay attention to the eyes Then relapse may occur in 1% of patients.

You can evaluate the effectiveness of this treatment on the basis of the study of functional activity of the gland, that is, on the level of hormones produced (determination of thyroxine Thyroxine - the main thyroid hormone , Triiodothyronine and TSH).

Marina Solovyov