No abstract

We report a 19-year-old woman who was diagnosed as polycystic ovary. Hypothyroidism with a markedly elevated TSHlevel and an enlarged pituitary gland on MRI were noted. The 123I uptake was decreased to 6.5%. After treatment with thyroid hormone, regression of the enlarged pituitary and the ovarian cysts was observed. In the present case, hypothyroidism was considered to have caused a reversible enlargement of the pituitary gland and concomitant polycystic ovary. Weconcluded that the polycystic ovary might have resulted from the effects of an excessive amount of TSHon immature ovaries. (Internal Medicine 40: 751-755, 2001)

Graves' disease (GD) has been reported to be frequently complicated with other autoimmune diseases. However, it is rarely complicated with scleroderma-polymyositis overlap syndrome. Recently, we encountered a 35-year-old womanwhodeveloped GDand immunethrombocytopenic purpura during follow-up observation of scleroderma-dermatomyositis overlap syndrome. Platelet counts recovered after high-dose y-globulin therapy and bolus methylprednisolone therapy. The present case is the first report of a combination of scleroderma, dermatomyositis, GD, and immunethrombocytopenic purpura. The patient was antiKu antibody-positive and had relatively low natural killer T cell counts, both of which might contribute to the complication of multiple autoimmune diseases.

No abstract

Abstract. Controversy remains regarding the optimal dose calculation with radioiodine therapy for patients with Graves' disease. Here, we focused our analysis on data concerning the patient's pretreatment background, an empirically set dose of radioiodine and the post-treatment thyroid function, and investigated those factors that affected the outcome. The subjects consisted of 38 patients diagnosed as having Graves' disease. All patients were hospitalized to undertake radioiodine therapy between 1989 and 1998 at our hospital. At the follow-up periods of 6-, 12-, and 36-months after therapy, we divided the patients into two groups: one group those who had hypothyroid function, and the other those who had normal or hyperthyroid function. At 6-and 12-months, 50% of the patients belonged to the hypothyroid function group, whereas at 36-months, 55% of them had hypothyroid function. Logistic regression analysis, with the objective variable being the post-treatment hypothyroidism after 12 months, revealed that the significant factor was the onset age. We suggested that the age at onset should be considered in patients with Graves' disease to determine the optional radioiodine dose for the therapy.