Antithyroid drugs. Practical conclusions

The management of the antithyroid drug therapy is inferred from the preceding papers. The best duration for the treatment with antithyroid drugs (ATD) is 18 months. At the end of the treatment, the early radioiodine uptake measured on suppressive doses of LT3 and the determination of the thyroid-stimulating antibodies are the only two interesting parameters in order to predict the outcome after the withdrawal of ATD. These parameters are evaluated just before stopping ATD. Three months later, a normalized TRH test (or maybe a normal value of TSH evaluated by an ultrasensitive method) seems to be an additional good index for the recovery. These three parameters allow to determine a schematic periodicity for further checkings.