We report four female patients with Graves' disease with positive ANA antibodies and possibility for development of systemic lupus erythematosus. All four patients have been treated with antithyroid drugs. SLE symptoms have appeared from 4 to 12 months after the beginning of therapy with methysol in two of them. The third patient had no symptoms for SLE, but her ANA, anti-DNA, and antihistone a...

Ninety patients who had a recurrence of thyrotoxicosis after thyroidectomy have been reviewed. All 10 patients who had a second operation and 18 out of 20 patients treated with a full course of antithyroid drugs relapsed. These results differ greatly from the results of treatment of the first episode of thyrotoxicosis, whether by thyroidectomy or antithyroid drugs. Radioiodine is the treatment ...

Thyrotoxicosis-induced cardiomyopathy and consequent heart failure is one of the most grave complications of uncontrolled hyperthyroidism. In such patients, early recognition of thyrotoxicosis, and directed antithyroid therapy can lead to rapid normalization of left ventricular function. Herein, we present a case of a 29-year-old male with Graves' disease who developed heart failure with severe...

Clinical recognition of drug-induced vasculitic and lupus-like syndromes is very important because continued use of the offending drug can lead to irreversible and life-threatening vasculitic organ damage (e.g. end-stage renal disease or pulmonary haemorrhage). Withdrawal of the drug often leads to spontaneous recovery, meaning that immunosuppressive therapy can be avoided. The presence of myel...

Short title: Antithyroid drugs and birth defects

We compared the utility of a sensitive immunoradiometric assay for serum thyrotropin as a "first-line" thyroid-function test with a strategy based on first measuring total thyroxin in serum. The immunoradiometric assay appears to distinguish primary hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism from euthyroidism in "new" patients. The role of this test in monitoring antithyroid treatment or thyroxin-repla...

Thyrotoxicosis remains a frustrating condition for the young person, family, and health professionals involved. The associated symptoms do not always suggest thyroid disease and patients can be unwell for many months before the diagnosis is made. The antithyroid drug regimen used to treat children and adolescents with thyrotoxicosis varies from one unit to another and yet the potentially life t...

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a rare pathogen of sepsis in patients with antithyroid drug-induced agranulocytosis. We herein describe a case of antithyroid drug-induced agranulocytosis complicated by pneumococcal sepsis and upper airway obstruction. A 27-year-old woman who was previously prescribed methimazole for nine months presented with a four-day history of a sore throat. She nearly choked a...

Two patients with amiodarone-induced thyrotoxicosis were treated successfully with potassium perchlorate and carbimazole while treatment with amiodarone was continued. These antithyroid drugs were stopped after the patients had became clinically and biochemically euthyroid. During follow up, when treatment with amiodarone continued, thyrotoxicosis did not recur. Amiodarone-induced thyrotoxicosi...