A 70-year-old man with thyroid associated ophthalmopathy showed inflammatory swelling of the left inferior oblique muscle that was significantly improved by steroid pulse therapy and radiotherapy. Sagittal T2-weighted magnetic resonance images were useful to detect the lesion and to evaluate the effects of treatment.

A female patient demonstrating a previously not reported constellation of polyglandular autoimmune syndrome type III (including autoimmune thyroiditis, Graves' ophthalmopathy, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and vitiligo), coeliac disease and sarcoidosis is described. This may be a random association but might also indicate a common immunological and/or genetic disturbance.

BACKGROUND Our studies over recent years have focused on some new ideas concerning the pathogenesis for the orbital reaction that characterizes Graves' ophthalmopathy namely, that there are antigens expressed by thyroid tissue and orbital tissue where they are targeted by autoantibodies and/or sensitized T cells, leading to orbital inflammation. While this has been well studied for the thyroid ...

Increased circulating soluble ICAM-1 (sICAM-1) levels has been previously reported in Graves' disease (GD) patients with or without ophthalmopathy (GO) and in patients with toxic nodular goiter but not in patients with subacute thyroiditis. Conflicting results have also been reported about the usefulness of sICAM-1 levels as a marker for the activity of hyperthyroidism. We have therefore determ...

Thyroid associated ophthalmopathy (TAO), a cardinal clinical pointer to diagnose Graves' disease (GD), is seen less frequently in our country than in the West, but can have sight threatening consequences. Smoking, diabetes, male gender, increasing age and radioactive iodine treatment for thyrotoxicosis are known precipitating factors for TAO. We report four cases of thiazolidinediones (TZD) pre...