Experience with carbimazole in the treatment of the hyperthyroidism of Graves' disease in Nigerian patients.

To estimate the rate of remission and relapse in patients with thyrotoxic Graves' disease following therapy with thionamides, the course of 49 patients who were treated with carbimazole and followed for a mean (+/-S.D.) of 22.0 +/- 17.8 months, was analysed. A remission rate of 61% was obtained. Remissions were more common in patients with small goiters and those with a short duration of illness. Relapse occurred most commonly within the first few months following the discontinuation of the drug. Thirty-two per cent of the patients left the clinic either before or soon after achieving euthyroidism. It is concluded that the thionamides are quite efficacious in the induction of remission in newly diagnosed Nigerian patients with toxic Graves' disease and probably should presently be the principal treatment modality for these patients, rather than subtotal thyroidectomy. Efforts should be made to reduce the frequent drop-out of our patients from the clinic during follow-up.