Dynamic monitoring of serum markers after ¹³¹I radiotherapy in patients of graves disease

To explore the clinical value of dynamic monitoring of serum markers after ¹³¹I radiotherapy in patients of Graves disease. Methods: The serum levels of TRAb, FT₃, FT₄, TSH, TGAb and TMAb in 350 patients with Graves disease and 135 normal controls were measured before and at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months after ¹³¹I radiotherapy. Results: The serum levels of TRAb, FT₃, FT₄, TGAb and TMAb in Graves disease group before treatment was obviously higher than that of control group (35.80±1.02 vs 6.81±2.10, 18.86±3.40 vs 10.10±2.13, 41.64±7.82 vs 18.10±5.88, 31.24±4.12 vs 1.98±2.10 and 32.10±5.02 vs 2.98±1.18). The serum levels of above markers at 3 months after treatment were obviously lower than that of before treatment (P < 0.01), and these markers were gradual declined from 6 months to 12 months. The TSH levels before treatment in Graves disease group were obviously lower than that of control group (1.85±1.12 vs 7.54±3.02, P < 0.01 ), and it gradual rose from 6 months to 12 months. In comparison of serum markers between different time points after treatment and control group, time to achieve normality of TRAb, FT₃ and FT₄ were 12 months, 6 months and 9 months respectively. Conclusion: Dynamic monitoring of serum markers might have clinical significance in the diagnosis of Graves disease and in the monitoring and efficacy evaluation of ¹³¹I radiotherapy. (authors)