抄録
From 1955 to 1963, 159 cases of Grave's disease were treated with antithyroid drugs for more than 6 months. This report concerns the outcome of these cases in 1969. Among 159 patients treated with antithyroid drugs, the present status could be studied in 86 cases. In these 86 cases, 24 were in remission for more than 2 years after the discontinuance of antithyroid drug therapy, 4 were in remission less than 2 years after the discontinuance of antithyroid drug therapy, 1 case was still hyperthyroid, 9 cases were still receiving antithyroid drugs, 6 underwent an operation because of recurrence, and 24 underwent 131t therapy because of recurrence. Remission rate after the administration of antithyroid drug for less than one year was 24%. In recurrent cases after further administration for 2 to 6 years, 10-20% of the patients experienced prolonged remission. In order to find out the factors related to permanent remission, 42 patients with permanent remission and 40 patients who failed permanent remission were compared in several factors.
From these studies, the incidence of permanent remission seems to be high in the following cases. 1) small goiter 2) short duration of symptoms 3) reduction in the size of the goiter during the treatment 4) positive suppression by thyroid suppression test at the conclusion of treatment. It was also observed that in cases in which antithyroid drug therapy was not effective after one year, further treatment for 2 to 5 years led to permanent remission in some cases. However, such a possibility is very small after more than 6 years of treatment.
The authors have 9 patients who have been taking small doses of antithyroid drugs for 5 to 12 years and working well in euthyroid conditions. Considering the shortcomings of surgery and 131I therapy, this kind of treatment might be appropriate in some cases.
