Graves' Disease with Thymic Hyperplasia: The Response of the Thyroid Function, Thyrotropin Receptor Autoantibody, and Thymic Size to Thiamazole Treatment

Abstract

We treated a 22-year-old woman suffering from Graves' disease and thymic hyperplasia. She was referred to our institution for a close investigation of thyrotoxicosis and thymic mass. Thyroid tests and magnetic resonance imaging resulted in a diagnosis of Graves' disease and thymic hyperplasia. The thyroid function and thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor antibody (TRAb) were normalized one and five months after thiamazole initiation, respectively. The thymic size began to decrease after 1 month and was further decreased after 5 months; it was normalized after 12 months. The correlation between TRAb titers and the thymic size (R 2 =0.99) suggested that the patient's autoimmunity might have contributed to the thymic hyperplasia.