Prevention of Relapse of Graves’ Disease by Treatment with an Intrathyroid Injection of Dexamethasone

Introduction: Antithyroid drugs are widely used in the treatment of Graves’ disease (GD), but the relapse rate is very high after therapy withdrawal. We evaluated the reduction effects of intrathyroid injection of dexamethasone (IID) on the relapse rate of hyperthyroidism in patients with newly diagnosed GD. Patients and Methods: A total of 191 patients with GD completed the study. After 6 months of treatment with methimazole (MMI), the patients were randomly assigned to receive either MMI (96 patients) alone or MMI combined with IID (MMI+IID; 95 patients) treatment for 3 months, followed by continuing a dose of MMI that would maintain euthyroidism for the next 9 months in all of the patients. After withdrawal of the medical therapy, patients were followed for 24 months, and the relapse rate of hyperthyroidism was evaluated. Results: No statistical difference was observed in the levels of serum FT4, TSH, or TSH receptor antibodies (TR-Ab), the thyroid volume, or the TR-Ab positive rate between the two gro...