{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T17:35:46Z","timestamp":1787160946128,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,14]],"date-time":"2021-01-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1610582400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,14]],"date-time":"2021-01-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1610582400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["BMC Endocr Disord"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Long-term antithyroid drug therapy has become one of the options for treatment of Graves\u2019 hyperthyroidism. The aim of this study was to compare thyroid status in those who discontinued methimazole (MMI) treatment after 12.8\u2009years with those who continued MMI as long as 24\u2009years.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Fifty nine patients with Graves\u2019 disease on long-term MMI for 14.2\u2009\u00b1\u20092.9\u2009years were recruited; 32 patients (54%) decided to discontinue MMI and 27 (46%) preferred additional years of MMI treatment. All patients were followed for a mean of 6 additional years.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Of 27 patients who continued MMI up to 24\u2009years, suppressed serum thyrotropin (TSH) was not observed in any patient after the seventh year of treatment. Serum free thyroxine, triiodothyronine, TSH and TSH receptor antibody concentrations remained normal up to the length of the study. Mean daily dose of MMI to maintain TSH in the reference range decreased gradually and reached to 2.8\u2009\u00b1\u20091.7\u2009mg by 24\u2009years of MMI treatment. No adverse reaction related to MMI occured during additional years of therapy. In 32 patients who discontinued MMI, hyperthyroidism relapsed in 6 patients (19%), one left follow-up and 25 (78%) remained euthyroid during the study.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Long-term low dose MMI treatment may be a lifelong effective and safe therapeutic modality in patients with Graves\u2019 hyperthyroidism for prevention of relapse, if studies from other centers confirm findings of this research.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Trial registration<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>IRCT201009224794N1, 2010-10-25. Retrospectively registered.<\/jats:p>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" ext-link-type=\"uri\" xlink:href=\"https:\/\/www.irct.ir\/trial\/5143\">https:\/\/www.irct.ir\/trial\/5143<\/jats:ext-link>\n                      .\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12902-020-00670-w","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,14]],"date-time":"2021-01-14T07:04:27Z","timestamp":1610607867000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":29,"title":["Control of Graves\u2019 hyperthyroidism with very long-term methimazole treatment: a clinical trial"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Fereidoun","family":"Azizi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hengameh","family":"Abdi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1046-0003","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Atieh","family":"Amouzegar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,14]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"670_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"115","DOI":"10.1111\/cen.12688","volume":"84","author":"L Bartalena","year":"2016","unstructured":"Bartalena L, Burch H, Burman K, Kahaly G. A 2013 European survey of clinical practice patterns in the management of Graves\u2019 disease. Clin Endocrinol. 2016;84(1):115\u201320.","journal-title":"Clin Endocrinol"},{"issue":"8","key":"670_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1144","DOI":"10.1089\/thy.2016.0222","volume":"26","author":"JP Brito","year":"2016","unstructured":"Brito JP, Schilz S, Singh Ospina N, et al. Antithyroid drugs\u2014the most common treatment for Graves' disease in the United States: a nationwide population-based study. Thyroid. 2016;26(8):1144\u20135.","journal-title":"Thyroid"},{"issue":"16","key":"670_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1552","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMra1510030","volume":"375","author":"TJ Smith","year":"2016","unstructured":"Smith TJ, Heged\u00fcs L. Graves\u2019 disease. 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