title: Influence of propylthiouracil and methimazole pre-treatment on the outcome of iodine-131 therapy in hyperthyroid patients with Graves' disease.
abstract: There is ongoing controversy about potential differences in the influence of the anti-thyroid drugs propylthiouracil (PTU) and methimazole (MMI) on radioiodine treatment of Graves' hyperthyroidism. This retrospective study investigated the influence of PTU and MMI pre-treatment, individually or sequentially, on the outcome of iodine-131 ((131)I) therapy in 199 patients with Graves' disease who had been treated with (131)I for the first time and followed up at 3 and 6 months after treatment. Pre-treatment with PTU, or sequential PTU and MMI pre-treatment, increased the failure rate of (131)I therapy and reduced the rate of hypothyroidism. MMI pre-treatment alone had no significant influence on the results of (131)I therapy. Logistic regression analyses indicated that PTU pre-treatment and having a thyroid gland of > 60 g were both significantly related to (131)I therapy failure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemotherapy, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China. shigenming@yahoo.cn
authors.forename: G-M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: C-Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Y-L
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006111:Graves Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D008297:Male; D008713:Methimazole / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011441:Propylthiouracil / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D017211:Treatment Failure; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D008713:Methimazole; D011441:Propylthiouracil