Potassium iodide
chemical compound
Potassium iodide (KI) is a chemical compound, medication, and dietary supplement. It is a medication used for treating hyperthyroidism, in radiation emergencies, and for protecting the thyroid gland when certain types of radiopharmaceuticals are used. It is also used for treating skin sporotrichosis and phycomycosis. It is a supplement used by people with low dietary intake of iodine. It is administered orally.
Common side effects include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, rash, and swelling of the salivary glands. Other side effects include allergic reactions, headache, goitre, and depression. While use during pregnancy may harm the baby, its use is still recommended in radiation emergencies. Potassium iodide has the chemical formula KI. Commercially it is made by mixing potassium hydroxide with iodine.
Potassium iodide has been used medically since at least 1820.
The public source identifies “Potassium iodide” as chemical compound. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Potassium, iodide and chemical.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q121874. The Library of Congress control number is sh85105614. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1820.
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This entry incorporates text from “Potassium iodide” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.