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TUESDAY, March 12, 2019 (HealthDay News) — For patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis with persistent symptoms despite normal thyroid gland function, total thyroidectomy, but not medical management, improves health-related quality of life and fatigue, according to a study published online March 12 in the Annals of Internal Medicine<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Ivar Guldvog, M.D., Ph.D., from Telemark Hospital in Skien, Norway, and colleagues examined symptom improvement in 150 patients aged 18 to 79 years with persistent Hashimoto-related symptoms despite euthyroid status while receiving hormone replacement therapy and with serum antithyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO) antibody titers >1,000 IU\/mL. Patients were randomly assigned to total thyroidectomy or medical management with hormone substitution.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that only the surgical group demonstrated improvement during follow-up. There was an increase in the mean general health score from 38 to 64 points (between-group difference, 29 points) at 18 months. A decrease from 23 to 14 points was observed in the fatigue score (between-group difference, 9.3 points). A decrease was also seen in chronic fatigue frequency, from 82 to 35 percent (between-group difference, 39 percent). A decrease was seen in median serum anti-TPO antibody titers, from 2,232 to 152 IU\/mL (between-group difference, 1,148 IU\/mL).<\/p>\n
“We believe that this is the first randomized controlled trial to demonstrate improvement in health-related quality of life and fatigue and normalization of serum anti-TPO antibody titer levels after complete removal of the diseased thyroid gland,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
Abstract\/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/i><\/p>\n