Hyperthyroidism is a common endocrine disease. Although thionamide antithyroid drugs are the cornerstone of hyperthyroidism treatment, some patients cannot tolerate this drug class because of its serious side effects including agranulocytosis, hepatotoxicity, and vasculitis. Therefore, nonthionamide antithyroid drugs (NTADs) still have an important role in controlling hyperthyroidism in clinical practice. Furthermore, some situations such as thyroid storm or preoperative preparation require a rapid decrease in thyroid hormone by combination treatment with multiple classes of antithyroid drugs. NTADs include iodine-containing compounds, lithium carbonate, perchlorate, glucocorticoid, and cholestyramine. In this narrative review, we summarize the mechanisms of action, indications, dosages, and side effects of currently used NTADs for the treatment of hyperthyroidism. In addition, we also describe the state-of-the-art in future drugs under development including rituximab, small-molecule ligands (SMLs), and monoclonal antibodies with a thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) antagonist effect.
Although patients with cirrhosis of the liver show relative immunosuppression and therefore have increased susceptibility to most infections, they rarely develop liver abscesses. In a retrospective case review, the pathogens causing the liver abscesses observed, between January 1992 and December 2001 at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand, in 44 hospitalized patients diagnosed as cases of liver cirrhosis were investigated. The most common clinical symptoms and signs of the abscesses--abdominal pain (80%), fever and chills (73%), and abdominal tenderness (73%)--were similar to those seen in non-cirrhotic patients with abscesses. The frequency of liver abscess among the cirrhotic patients was low (0.46%). Most (71%) of the abscesses were in the right lobe and most (71%) of those with abscesses only had a single abscess. Surprisingly, many of the abscesses (36%) were apparently caused by amoebae. Bacterial pathogens were identified in eight patients (18%) by blood culture and 15 (34%) patients by pus culture. Seven (16%) of the blood cultures and 13 (30%) of the pus contained Gram-negative aerobes, indicating that such pathogens, particularly Klebsiella pneumoniae (in six pus and six blood cultures) and Escherichia coli (in three pus cultures and one blood), were the most common causes of the bacterial abscesses. Pus culture appeared more successful than blood culture for bacterial abscesses, and amoebic abscesses could always be identified by direct microscopical examination of pus samples. Aspiration of liver abscesses, to obtain pus samples for culture and microscopy, is therefore recommended.
Background and Objectives: Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is widely used for the monitoring and management of diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of hemoglobin (Hb) variants on the measurement of HbA1c. Materials and Methods: HbA1c levels of 845 blood samples obtained from diabetic patients with various hemoglobin types were measured using a turbidimetric inhibition immunoassay and capillary electrophoresis. Results: Of 845 patients with diabetes, 65.7% (555/845) have the normal hemoglobin type (A2A) and 34.3% (290/845) have various abnormal hemoglobin types, including heterozygous HbE 30.2% (255/845), homozygous HbE 1.9 % (16/845), Hb Constant Spring (CS) trait 1.4% (12/845), CSEA Bart’s 0.2% (2/845), and beta-thalassemia trait 0.6% (5/845). In most of the patients with diabetes, HbA1c levels determined by two different methods, inhibition immunoassay and capillary electrophoresis, gave strong positive correlation (R = 0.901, P < 0.001), except for those with homozygous HbE (N = 16) and CSEA Bart’s (N = 2). In all 18 patients with homozygous HbE and CSEA Bart’s, the HbA1c was undetectable by capillary electrophoresis, meaning that their estimated average glucose was undeterminable, although their HbA1c levels could be measured using an inhibition immunoassay. The discrepancy of HbA1c results obtained from two different methods is noted in patients without HbA. Conclusions: We have demonstrated the erroneous nature of HbA1c measurement in patients with hemoglobin variants, especially in those without HbA expression. Therefore, in the population with a high prevalence of hemoglobinopathies, hemoglobin typing should be considered as basic information prior to HbA1c measurement.
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