EEG and thyroid function tests have been studied in 32 hyperthyroid patients before, during and after antithyroid treatment. EEG abnormalities such as increase in alpha rhythm, slow rhythms, spikes and sharp waves and fast activity were found in 81% of the patients before treatment. A statistically significant correlation was found between the degree of EEG abnormalities and the severity of hyperthyroidism. During treatment and the period of observation which was extended to an average of 2½ year, a slight decrease in the occurrence of all abnormalities was observed, but even in the period 24–36 months after the start of the therapy, 65% of the patients still had abnormal EEG's. These persistent abnormalities in EEG suggest that hyperthyroidism might cause irreversible damage to the brain cells. It should be realized that hyperthyroidism may be the cause of considerable EEG abnormalities however not only in the acute state of the disease but also several years after an otherwise successful antithyroid treatment.
SummaryOf 74 patients with a history of coronary occlusion 42 received anticoagulant (phenylindanedione) therapy, while 32 were untreated. Both groups were investigated in a comparative study of prothrombin determination, heparin tolerance test, and plasma heparin thrombin time. By the latter method the clotting time with thrombin is determined on heparinized, platelet-poor citrated plasma. In several patients on anticoagulant therapy whose prothrombin-proconvertin level was well adjusted and whose heparin clotting time, as measured by the heparin tolerance test, was definitely prolonged in relation to normal, an increased heparin resistance might still be demonstrated in the form of a distinct shortening of the heparin thrombin time. In the majority of the treated patients the anticoagulant therapy had entailed a prolongation of the heparin clotting time as measured by the heparin tolerance test. As measured by the heparin thrombin time, however, the treatment was found to have had no influence on the heparin resistance, there being no difference between the frequency of shortened heparin thrombin time in the treated and in the untreated group.
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