PRESENCE OF OPHTHALMOPATHY IN ALL CASES O F GRAVES-DISEASE

In order to evaluate the frequency of ophthalmopathy in Graves' diseas e, we used a progression criterion, the variation of the eyeball protr usion, in a group of 145 patients initially examined at the time when thyrotoxicosis was diagnosed, before any treatment. By the means of a systematic measure of the protrusion with the Hertel's exophthalmomete r at every consultation, we calculated for each patient the variation of protrusion (Delta PO) between each annual mean value and the initia l value. The mean survey was 6.4 years (range 1-18 years). For the who le group, we observed, after a slight increase (0.3 mm) during the fir st year, a progressive decrease, which reached about 4 mm at the 12th year and kept on afterwards (p < 0.01 at 3 years; p < 0.001 afterwards ). The percentage of cases in which the decrease was significant relat ed to the initial value (greater than or equal to 2 mm) rose regularly to reach 100 % at the 16th year. These results seem to give evidence of the constant nature of ophthalmopathy at the initial stage of Grave s' hyperthyroidism.