Papillary cancer in a patient treated with radioiodine for Graves' hyperthyroidism. Case report and a review of the risk.

: A small encapsulated papillary thyroid cancer was found in a patient who had received I-131 therapy for Graves' disease 31 months previously. The relationship of Graves' hyperthyroidism and thyroid cancer is discussed, as well as the possible role of I-131 as a cause of the cancer. The published data do not support I-131 as an etiology. The patient is clinically well and cured of both hyperthyroidism and the cancer.