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To the Editor: Certainly one can only agree with Dr Forbes' general comments about the fact that the potential hazard of radioactive iodine treatment in thyrotoxicosis, particularly in children, has not yet been fully assessed. The paper mentions the two neoplasms that have been reported after radioactive iodine therapy with the observations published for 146 patients. One neoplasm was an invasive adenoma and the other a papillary carcinoma. The second patient had received a considerable amount of diagnostic radiation for congenital heart disease. Following is a quote from the paper.
"Since thyroidectomy for children with Graves' disease may involve a significant rate of immediate mortality or morbidity, the question to be decided is not whether irradiation of the thyroid for Graves' disease is carcinogenic, but whether it is carcinogenic enough to make it more dangerous than thyroidectomy."
I would certainly agree with Dr. Forbes that there has not yet been