Prediction of relapse in Graves' disease.

In order to predict remission in Graves' disease, it is important to recognize abnormalities of thyroid function in euthyroid subjects who are prone to be thyrotoxic as well as in those who are untreated thyrotoxic patients. Changes in thyroid function during thionamide therapy and in remission are also very important to understand the remission and the relapse in Graves' disease. From the careful analysis of thyroid-related abnormalities in each stage of the clinical course of Graves' disease, it is suggested that to bring patients into remission by thionamide therapy is merely to return them to a thyroid functional status prior to the development of clinical active Graves' disease. Various methods employed to predict remission are useful in differentiating active patients from those in remission but none of them can predict the duration of remission.