title: Estimation of antithyroid drug dose in Graves' disease: value of quantification of thyroid blood flow with color duplex sonography.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate if there is an association between the antithyroid drug dose that is needed to establish euthyroidism and thyroid blood flow measurements. A total of 23 Graves' disease patients with euthyroidism taking antithyroid drug therapy were enlisted to undergo spectral duplex sonography of the thyroid arteries and color-flow mapping of the thyroid gland. Color pixel density (CPD) was calculated with computer assistance from the color-flow maps. There was a strong correlation between the CPD and methimazole dose (rp = 0.79). Methimazole maintenance dosage could be predicted from CPD values with a coefficient of determination of 0.62. In conclusion, CPD measurements could be a useful tool for the clinical endocrinologist to estimate the antithyroid drug dose that is needed to maintain euthyroidism.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Diagnostic Radiology, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany. saleh@uni-duesseldorf.de
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saleh
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fürst
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feldkamp
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Godehardt
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grust
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Mödder
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D013956:Antithyroid Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006111:Graves Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008713:Methimazole / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color
chemical_list: D013956:Antithyroid Agents; D008713:Methimazole