The significance of thyroid blood flow at the inferior thyroid artery as a predictor for early Graves' disease relapse.
OBJECTIVE
We investigated the clinical usefulness of thyroid blood-flow measurement in predicting relapse of Graves' disease (GD) in comparison with known risk factors for GD relapse.


METHODS
Thyroid blood flow was measured in pulsed Doppler mode at the inferior thyroid artery (ITA), and the peak systolic velocity (PSV) calculated.


METHODS
ITA-PSV was measured in euthyroid GD patients (n = 79) immediately before withdrawal of anti-thyroid drug (ATD) and in healthy subjects (n = 17).


RESULTS
In the 79 euthyroid GD patients, the values of free triiodothyronine (FT3), TSH receptor autoantibody (TRAb), ITA-PSV and thyroid volume were significantly higher in the relapse group (n = 40) than in the nonrelapse group (n = 39) and the Youden index of ITA-PSV was significantly higher than that of FT3, TSH, TRAb and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).


CONCLUSIONS
ITA-PSV may assist in the prediction of early GD relapse after ATD withdrawal.
Ueda
Misako
M
Department of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Molecular Medicine, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
Inaba
Masaaki
M
Kumeda
Yasuro
Y
Nagasaki
Toshiki
T
Hiura
Yoshikazu
Y
Tahara
Hideki
H
Onoda
Naoyoshi
N
Ishikawa
Tetsuro
T
Nishizawa
Yoshiki
Y
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001158:Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006111:Graves Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012372:ROC Curve; D011989:Receptors, Thyrotropin / Q000276:immunology; D012008:Recurrence; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology; D014284:Triiodothyronine / Q000097:blood; D018617:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Pulsed; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000097:blood
D001323:Autoantibodies; D011989:Receptors, Thyrotropin; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D014284:Triiodothyronine