Determination of urinary mucopolysaccharides in Graves' disease.

Urinary mucopolysaccharides (u MPZ) were determined in 114 patients with thyroid diseases. The values were elevated in 95.8% of patients with Graves' disease with infiltrative ophthalmopathy, and in 66.6% of patients with Graves' disease without clinically manifest infiltrative ophthalmopathy; in the second group of patients we consider that there is a subclinical infiltrative ophthalmopathy. In conclusion, the determination of u MPZ can be considered as a criterion for the diagnosis of Graves' disease in patients with hyperthyroidism without clinically manifest infiltrative ophthalmopathy; in a number of these cases, infiltrative ophthalmopathy may become clinically manifest. For that reason, increased u MPZ can represent a criterion for an eventual delay of an ablative therapy in Graves' disease. It is not a significant statistic difference (p greater than 0.1) between the values of u MPZ in patients with Graves' disease with clinically manifest ophthalmopathy and in those with subclinical infiltrative ophthalmopathy. The thyroid functional status does not influence in any way the values of u MPZ (p greater than 0.1). There is no correlation between the degree of eye protrusion and the values of u MPZ (r = = -0.05)