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Endocrine Abstracts (2019) 65 P403 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.65.P403

SFEBES2019 POSTER PRESENTATIONS Thyroid (51 abstracts)

Iopanoic acid safely, quickly and effectively induces euthyroidism in resistant thyrotoxicosis

Havish Samudrala 1 , Isabelle Terry 1 , Kah Fai Wong 2 , Diana Wood 1 , Krishna Chatterjee 3 & Carla Moran 3


1University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; 2Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK; 3Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK


Introduction: Thyrotoxicosis resistant to the usual treatment is rare, but potentially fatal. In such situations, the optimal next treatment is unclear. Iopanoic acid (IA) was historically used as an oral contrast agent; it’s capacity to treat thyrotoxicosis has been limited in recent years due to its restricted availability.

Methods: Retrospective case note review of patients treated with IA for resistant thyrotoxicosis at our institution over the past 10 years.

Results: 7 patients (3 GD, 4 AIT) received IA. Fall in FT4 and FT3 levels was seen in all (Table 1). There were no adverse effects. 6 patients underwent uncomplicated thyroidectomy. One patient (case 5) developed severe multifactorial myopathy (steroids, LMNA mutation, AIT) prior to iopanoic acid administration; he later died of pneumonia.

Table 1 Outcome of iopanoic acid treatment in resistant thyrotoxicosis.
Age, gender, outcome, cause tof hyroid diseaseFT4 pmol/l* RR 10-19.8FT3 pmol/l* RR 3.5-6.5
Case 142, F, GD69, 4528, 6.4
Case 236, F, GD63, 16n/a, 4.8
Case 337, F, GD44, 25n/a, 3.3
Case 455, M, AIT95.6, 3817.9, 3.3
Case 565, M, AIT85, 729.1, 6.6
Case 664, M, AIT64, 4810.8, 2,.4
Case 736, M, AIT86, 5721.8, 2.9
*Before, and after, treatment with Iopanoic acid.

Conclusion: Iopanoic acid was highly efficacious at rapidly inducing biochemical euthyroidism (normal FT3) in all patients, was well tolerated and enabled safe thyroidectomy. Notably, FT4 remained elevated due to the predominant mechanism of action of inhibition of T4 to T3 conversion. Iopanoic acid is a safe and effective method of restoring euthyroidism in resistant thyrotoxicosis, current availability is limited to laboratory grade; development of a pharmaceutical grade compound would be highly advantageous in urgent or resistant cases of thyrotoxicosis.

Volume 65

Society for Endocrinology BES 2019

Brighton, United Kingdom
11 Nov 2019 - 13 Nov 2019

Society for Endocrinology 

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