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Article: Radioactive iodine will kill cells causing Bush's heart problem
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- May 10, 1991
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright (null) The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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President Bush will be temporarily radioactive as a result of
the treatment begun yesterday for Graves' disease, with his thyroid
emitting as much radiation as someone exposed in a moderate nuclear
plant accident, specialists said.
The radioactive iodine is intended to kill hormone-producing cells
in his thyroid gland and reduce as quickly as possible the high
levels of thyroid hormone that are causing his heart to beat
irregularly from time to time.
The episodes of atrial fibrillation, a heart arrhythmia, that have
affected Bush since last Saturday were traced to the hyperthyroid
condition Tuesday, and that condition to Graves' disease yesterday.