Clinical results of treating Graves's disease with percutaneous intrathyroidal ethanol injection

Objective: To observe the effectiveness of percutaneous intrathyroidal ethanol injection in the treatment of Graves's disease. Methods: 42 patients with Graves' disease were given percutaneous intrathyroidal ethanol injection (PEI) for treatment. The control group consists of 47 patients given per-oral antithyroid drug (PATD). clinical response, levels of serum TT3, TT4, FT3, FT4, TSH and size of thyroid were observed and followed up for six months. Results: In PEI group, 17 cases were cured, 24 cases were improved and only one case had no response. Total effective rate was 97.6% with no significant difference from that of PATD (p > 0.05). The size of gland after treatment were significantly smaller in PEI than that of PATD (p < 0.01). No severe adverse effect occurred in the PEI group. Conclusion: PEI is a new way in treating GD which is simple economical and effective