Extended long-term drug monotherapy of Graves' disease

The results are presented of a 3-17 years' prolongation of the usual one-year "long-term" drug treatment applied to patients with Graves' disease. Most of the 87 patients with an average age of 34.3 years were on the maintenance dose of 10 mg methimazole daily. This mono-drug therapy was well tolerated and accepted by the patients, the toxic state disappeared, glandular consistency and the size remained almost unchanged. Thirty-six patients of this group (41.4%) were in a "permanent" remission lasting over three years. The remaining 51 patients continued their maintenance dose which kept a balanced euthyroid state. The authors support the convenience of a considerable extension of the traditional long-term methimazole treatment of Graves' disease. This extended scheme of the drug suppression of euthyroid functions is reversible in contrast to radical surgical or radioiodine treatments which increase the cumulative rate of irreversible hypothyroidism over decades.