title: Technetium uptake predicts remission and relapse in Grave's disease patients on antithyroid drugs for at least 1 year in South Indian subjects.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Most of the information on remission related factors in Grave's disease are derived from Western literature. It is likely that there may be additional prognostic factors and differences in the postdrug treatment course of Grave's disease in India.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study factors which predict remission/relapse in Grave's disease patients from South India. Also to establish if technetium (Tc) uptake has a role in predicting remission.
  
  
  METHODS
  Records of 174 patients with clinical, biochemical, and scintigraphic criteria consistent with Grave's disease, seen in our Institution between January 2006 and 2014 were analyzed. Patient factors, drug-related factors, Tc-99m uptake and other clinical factors were compared between the remission and nonremission groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mann-Whitney U-test and Chi-square tests were used when appropriate to compare the groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-seven (32.7%) patients attained remission after at least 1 year of thionamide therapy. Of these, 11 (19.2%) patients relapsed within 1 year. Age, gender, goiter, and presence of extrathyroidal manifestations were not associated with remission. Higher values of Tc uptake were positively associated with remission (P- 0.02). Time to achievement of normal thyroid function and composite dose: Time scores were significantly associated with remission (P - 0.05 and P - 0.01, respectively). Patients with lower FT4 at presentation had a higher chance of remission (P - 0.01). The relapse rates were lower than previously reported in the literature. A higher Tc uptake was found to be significantly associated with relapse also (P - 0.009).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prognostic factors associated with remission in Graves's disease in this South Indian study are not the same as that reported in Western literature. Tc scintigraphy may have an additional role in identifying people who are likely to undergo remission and thus predict the outcome of Grave's disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Neha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Singhal
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: V P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Praveen
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Nisha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bhavani
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Arun S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Menon
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Usha
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Menon
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Nithya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Abraham
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Harish
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: R V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: JayKumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Vasantha
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Shanmugha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sundaram
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Padma
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sundaram
keywords: Grave's disease; relapse; remission; technetium scintigraphy