[The prognostic value of thyroid stimulating antibodies after antithyroid drug treatment of Graves' disease].

Thyroid stimulating antibodies (TsAb) and thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) test were used as the indices for predicting relapse and remission in 58 patients. The variation of TsAb activities was observed before and after antithyroid drug (ATD) treatment. The findings showed that TsAb activities of untreated patients were significantly higher than those of patients treated by ATD, and TsAb activities were weak or negative after ATD treatment. When TsAb was positive or TRH test was abnormal at the time of cessation of ATD therapy, nearly 93% patients relapsed. Further analyses of relapsed patients indicated that there was no correlation between the two indicators, and the TsAb positive rate (84%) was significantly higher than the rate of abnormal TRH test (45%). The average ATD treatment duration in relapsed patients was shorter than that in remission patients. It is concluded that TsAb is more useful than TRH test when they are used for predicting the prognosis of Graves' disease. The duration of ATD treatment could affect relapse or remission. The immunosuppression effect of ATD was also identified.