Administration of Thyroxine in Treated Graves' Disease

Abstract

Antibodies to thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) receptors that stimulate the thyroid gland cause hyperthyroidism in patients with Graves' disease, and their production during antithyroid drug treatment is an important determinant of the course of the disease. One factor that might contribute to the persistent production of antibodies to TSH receptors is stimulation of the release of thyroid antigens by TSH during antithyroid drug therapy. We therefore studied the effect of the suppression of TSH secretion by thyroxine on the levels of antibodies to TSH receptors after thyroid hormone secretion had been normalized by methimazole.