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We encountered two cases of ruptured anastomotic pseudoaneurysms 47 and 77 months after surgery for atherosclerotic thoracic aortic aneurysms. Autopsy was performed in one case and emergency re-operation was performed in the other case. We gained some interesting findings in the autopsy and the re-operation. The anastomotic sites were sustained by sutures only, and there was no evidence of tissue supplementation at the anastomotic sites in macroscopic observation. Microscopic findings demonstrated endothelium healing on the internal side of the prosthesis near the anastomotic site. There was no tissue connection between the prostheses and the native aortic walls, although over four or six years had passed after the previous anastomoses. Anastomotic pseudoaneurysms may occur even in a long time after surgery. Careful operative procedures and long-term computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging follow-up are crucial.

Autoimmune hyperthyroidism may occur several months after radioiodine therapy (RIT) for functional thyroid autonomy. Exacerbation of pre-existing subclinical Graves' disease (GD) has been held responsible for this phenomenon. Determination of TSH receptor antibody using solubilised porcine epithelial cell membranes is insensitive and may have failed to diagnose GD in these patients before RIT. Following the introduction of a more sensitive assay, using the human TSH receptor as an antigen, it has been expected that the incidence of radiation-induced GD after RIT for functional thyroid autonomy will be reduced. In a first group of 1,428 patients treated between November 1993 and March 1997 (group I) we used the porcine TRAb assay to exclude GD, while in a second group comprising 1,408 patients treated between January 2000 and December 2001 (group II), GD was excluded using the human TRAb assay. A matched control group of 231 patients was derived from group II. In group I a total of 15 (1.05%) patients developed obvious or suspected radiation-induced GD, while in group II 17 (1.2%) did so; the interval until development of GD was 8.4 and 8.8 months, respectively, after RIT. Serum anti-thyroid peroxidase levels before RIT were elevated in 36.4% of group I patients and 47.1% of group II patients, but in only 5.6% of the control group. Other non-specific signs of mild immunopathy of the thyroid were seen retrospectively in 73.3%, 64.7% and 16.0% of the patients in these three groups, respectively. In conclusion, the introduction of a high-sensitivity TRAb assay did not reduce the incidence of autoimmune hyperthyroidism occurring late after RIT for functional thyroid autonomy, but mild immunopathy of the thyroid is seen more frequently in these patients and seems to be a predisposing factor in the development of radiation-induced GD.

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