Abstract:
Two-hundred-eighty-four patients’ with Graves disease were followed up retrospectively or prospectively for from 6 months to 25 years after cessation of antithyroid drugs.The remission rate was found to be 65.6%(149/227)at 2 years,53.5%(68/127)at 5 years and 38.8%(19/49) at 10 years and over.In order to study the remission rate in relation to the duration of treatment,the patients were divided,according to the time of therapy,into 3 groups:short-term(6.7±1.5mos),mid-term(14.3±2.3mos)and long-term(26.3±8.3mos).The remission rate was found to be the lowest in the short-term group,higher in the mid-term group,and the highest in the long-term group,although the diffference was statistically insignificant.T
3 suppression test and TRH stimulation test were performed upon cessation of treatment in 62 cases and repeated in 20 cases 1 year later.Significant difference in the response to T
3 suppression test between different groups was noticed immediately following cessation of therapy,but no similar difference was demonstrated 1 year later.The present study indicates that serum T
3 and T
4.the size of thyroid before treatment and T
3 suppression test have certain value in predictine the result of antithyroid drug therapy and that,since most of the patients obtaining long-term remission are those having received short-term therapy,a 6-month drug administration seems to be just as effective as therapy of longer durations.