Physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital; early radioiodine research
Saul Hertz
Massachusetts General Hospital
Sawin and Becker (1997) report that Hertz and his chief J. Howard Means realised in 1936 that radioiodine could be made and used as a tracer, and that Hertz and the physicist Arthur Roberts first treated hyperthyroidism with radioiodine on 31 March 1941. A 2024 review argues that Hertz originated radioiodine therapy for benign and malignant thyroid disease. Hertz and Roberts reported radioiodine therapy of hyperthyroidism in JAMA in 1946.
Milestones
Sources
Sawin CT, Becker DV. Radioiodine and the treatment of hyperthyroidism: the early history. Thyroid. 1997;7(2):163-76.
Greenspan BS, Hofman MS, Buscombe J. The Accomplishments and Legacy of Saul Hertz, MD. J Nucl Med. 2024;65(4):659-663.
HERTZ S, ROBERTS A. Radioactive iodine in the study of thyroid physiology; the use of radioactive iodine therapy in hyperthyroidism. J Am Med Assoc. 1946;131:81-6.