BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY

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HOSPITAL of the MEDICAL RESEARCH CENTER

DISCHARGE SUMMARY
ADMITTED:

Aug. 26, 1969

08-22-56

-22-56R

:

PAVILION
DISCHARGED:

1

OPD
Sept. 22, 1969

This 21-year-old Marshallese
girl was admitted to this
Hospital for evaluation of nodularity of the thyroid gland believed to result
from radioactive fallout exposure in 1954.

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HISTORY OF PRESENT ILLNESS:

She received an estimated’
175 rads of whole body
gamma radiation, radiation of the skin, and internal absorption of radioisotopes.
The thyroid received in the range of $00-1000 rads from radfoiodines absorbed.
She had acute symptoms of radiation effects including transient anorexia and
nausea followed by hematopoietic depression the development of wide-spread beta
burns over the scalp and neck regions. She recovered from these effects during
the first year of post exposure, During the years following her exposure she
has remained in generally good health and has had two normal deliveries of healthy
children, the last occurring in July. She has always appeared to be euthyroid
with normal PBI and cholesterol values, In 1965 a small 3 mm. nodule was discovered in the right lower lobe of the thyroid, In the following two years,
however, the nodule was not noted. During the survey this past March 1969 she
complained of a "lump in the throat" and a slightly irregular 1-2 cm. mass
was noted in the lower left lobe. She had been very irregular about taking her
thyroid hormone medication, since she has been on distant islands a large
part of the cime,
PHYSICAL EXAMINATION:

The physical examination
revealed an alert, apparently
euthyroid Marshallese female of about her stated age, The examination was
essentially negative except for findings related to the thyroid gland. A
stightly irregular mass was noted in the lower part of the left lobe of the
] thyroid, It was fairly far posterior and seemed to be slightly adherent to
the trachea. Another B-B sized mass was noted anteriorly near the junction of
the isthmus.
LABORATORY AND X-RAY FINDINGS:

Thyroid studies revealed:

PBI 5.3 pg.Z, total lodine
5.5 ug.%, fodoprotein 0.8 wg.%, and T-4 4,2 g.%; BMR +3.5; cholesterol 187
mg.% and esters 136 mg.%, Thyroid autoantibodies showed less than 1-16 dilution
reaction; scan showed a multinodular gland with slight enlargement of the left
lobe; thyroid Lfodine uptake was normal but the response following TSH stimulation
was poor, X-ray of the chest was negative. The only other laboratory finding
of significance was the presence of ascaries and trichuris in the stool specimens.
SURGERY AT THE CLEVELAND METROPOLITAN GENERAL HOSPITAL:
The patient was transferred
to the Cleveland Metropolitan
Hospital on September 7. On September 9 Dr. Brown Dobbins carried out thyroid
surgery. The gland contained several nodular areas some of which on frozen section
appeared to be adenomatous lesions but others on frozen section appeared to be

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