Thiouracil in Toxic Goitre

Low Remission After Therapy for Graves Disease

“…Three patients (3,17, 38) of the six who did have remissions had a marked reduction in the size of their goiter (this result has been said to be associated with lasting remission17), while the other three patients (No. 7, 25, 33) still have large, persisting goi¬ ter and conversely may be subject to a greater risk of recurrence.…”

Long-term Therapy of Thyrotoxicosis with Thiouracil Compounds

“…In view of the relative lack of association between length of remission and the three factors which we have examined above, it seems reasonable to conclude that other influences, such as intercurrent infection and social maladjustment (Douglas and Kennie, 1952), may be more relevant in determining a patient's response to withdrawal of maintenance therapy with thiouracil compounds.…”

“…H. (194.6 Now that the treatment of thyrotoxicosis by thiouracil compounds has been in use for a number of years, it is becoming possible to determine its long-term effects and, in particular, the conditions under which this therapy is likely to be most successful. Most of the earlier contributions to this aspect of the subject have been reviewed by Astwood (1949), and accounts of more recent investigations have been published bv Himsworth (1948), Williams (1949, Dunlop and Rolland (1950), Trotter (1950), Poate (1950), Wing and Asper (1952), and Douglas and Kennie (1952).…”

“…This is contrary to what might be expected on the basis of previous reports that, if treatment was maintained for longer periods, the patient tended to take correspondingly longer to relapse (Himsworth, Morgans, and Trotter, 1947;Himsworth, 1948;Dunlop and Rolland, 1950). Douglas and Kennie (1952) have shown that the proportion of patients who relapse is much greater among those who have had treatments of less than one year before withdrawal than among patients who have been treated for one to two and a half years or more. However, inspection of their figures also suggests that, of the patients who do relapse, those who have had treatments of one year or longer tend to relapse sooner-in half the time, on an average-than those who have been treated for periods of less than one year.…”