Early response to intravenous glucocorticoids for severe thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy predicts treatment outcome.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The results for 18 consecutive patients with severe thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) treated with high-dose, pulsed intravenous methylprednisolone (MP) are presented in this paper.

METHODS: Eighteen (18) patients with severe TAO, defined as either optic neuropathy, progressive diplopia, or severe soft-tissue swelling accompanied by evidence of NOSPECS class 2b or more severe eye disease, were studied in a prospective, noncontrolled case series. Patients were treated with 1.5 g of intravenous MP, divided over 3 days, followed by a tapering course of oral prednisolone. All patients were examined before treatment, 1 week and 1 month after commencement of treatment and at 2-3 monthly intervals thereafter. Assessment of visual acuity, differential intraocular pressure (IOP), soft-tissue inflammation, diplopia, and exophthalmometry were used to calculate a modified ophthalmopathy index (OI) for each patient at each visit. Median duration of follow-up was 14 months.

RESULTS: A statistically significant reduction in OI following treatment with high-dose MP was observed after 1 week of treatment from 10.8 +/- 3.9 standard deviation (SD) to 8.3 +/- 3.4 (SD) (P < 0.001) and between 1 week and the end of the treatment period (OI, 7.2 +/- 3.4 (SD); P < 0.05). A response occurred in 83% of patients within a week but only 66% maintained this response. There was a significant negative correlation between response to treatment (OI before treatment-OI after treatment) and duration of eye disease (P = 0.034, Spearman correlation).

CONCLUSIONS: High-dose, pulsed intravenous MP is an effective medical treatment for severe TAO. Responders can be identified within the 1st week. Treatment response is inversely related to disease duration.