The significance of thyroid blood flow at the inferior thyroid artery as a predictor for early Graves' disease relapse

Abstract

Objective: We investigated the clinical usefulness of thyroid blood-flow measurement in predicting relapse of Graves' disease (GD) in comparison with known risk factors for GD relapse.

Measurement: Thyroid blood flow was measured in pulsed Doppler mode at the inferior thyroid artery (ITA), and the peak systolic velocity (PSV) calculated.

Patients: ITA-PSV was measured in euthyroid GD patients (n = 79) immediately before withdrawal of anti-thyroid drug (ATD) and in healthy subjects (n = 17).

Results: In the 79 euthyroid GD patients, the values of free triiodothyronine (FT3), TSH receptor autoantibody (TRAb), ITA-PSV and thyroid volume were significantly higher in the relapse group (n = 40) than in the nonrelapse group (n = 39) and the Youden index of ITA-PSV was significantly higher than that of FT3, TSH, TRAb and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).

Conclusion: ITA-PSV may assist in the prediction of early GD relapse after ATD withdrawal.