Hyperthyroidism and Graves disease

The fellowship mark goes to the candidate who separates two words that are routinely conflated. Thyrotoxicosis is the clinical and biochemical state of too much thyroid hormone in the tissues. Hyperthyroidism is the narrower term for the causes in which the gland itself is over-active — Graves disease, a toxic adenoma, a toxic multinodular goitre. Thyroiditis and exogenous hormone cause thyrotoxicosis but not hyperthyroidism, because the gland is leaking or being fed, not over-producing. The distinction matters because it decides the second-line test: after the suppressed TSH and raised free T4 confirm thyrotoxicosis, you ask whether the gland is over-producing (high radioiodine uptake) or leaking (low uptake), and the TSH-receptor antibody makes Graves the fast, non-radioactive answer in a child. [1] [3]

Overview & Definition

Hyperthyroidism and Graves disease together form the commonest endocrine cause of a thyrotoxic child in paediatric practice. Thyrotoxicosis is the state of excess thyroid hormone in the tissues, whatever its source; hyperthyroidism is the subset caused by true over-production by the gland; and Graves disease is the autoimmune disorder that accounts for the great majority of childhood cases. A stimulating immunoglobulin — the TSH-receptor antibody, also called thyroid-stimulating immunoglobulin — binds and activates the TSH receptor on the thyroid follicular cell, driving hormone synthesis and release without any check from the pituitary. The gland enlarges diffusely, vascularity increases, and free T4 and free T3 rise while TSH falls to undetectable. [1] [12]

The clinical face of the disease is the face of a body running too fast. Thyroid hormone up-regulates the β-adrenergic receptor, so the child is tachycardic, tremulous, heat-intolerant and anxious, with a bounding pulse and a wide pulse pressure. Metabolism speeds up, so appetite increases yet weight falls, and growth and skeletal maturation may accelerate. In the eye, retro-orbital lymphocytic and glycosaminoglycan infiltration produces the proptosis, lid retraction and diplopia that are unique to Graves and mark it out from every other cause of thyrotoxicosis. A fellow should leave the overview holding this image: a thyrotoxic child is, in effect, a child in a β-adrenergic storm, and the antibody is the switch that turned it on. [4] [10]

The disease is uncommon but not rare, and its incidence climbs steeply through childhood toward adolescence. Roughly one in ten thousand children under ten years is affected, rising through the early teenage years, with a strong female predominance and a clustering with other autoimmune diseases, Down syndrome and a family history of autoimmune thyroid disease. The neonate enters the topic through a separate door — the infant of a mother with current or past Graves disease, who may be born thyrotoxic from transplacental passage of maternal TSH-receptor antibody. The overview closes with the recognition that this is a chronic relapsing disease of children and young people, and that the paediatric task is as much about adherence, growth, school function and a safe transition to adult care as it is about the biochemistry. [6] [11]

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2. [2]Bahn RS, Burch HB, Cooper DS, Garber JR, Greenlee MC, Klein I, et al. Hyperthyroidism and other causes of thyrotoxicosis: management guidelines of the American Thyroid Association and American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. Endocr Pract, 2011.PMID 21700562
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8. [8]Emiliano AB, Governale L, Parks M, Cooper DS. Shifts in propylthiouracil and methimazole prescribing practices: antithyroid drug use in the United States from 1991 to 2008. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2010.PMID 20335447
9. [9]Rivkees SA, Mattison DR. Propylthiouracil (PTU) Hepatoxicity in Children and Recommendations for Discontinuation of Use. Int J Pediatr Endocrinol, 2009.PMID 19946400
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11. [11]Polak M. Hyperthyroidism in early infancy: pathogenesis, clinical features and diagnosis with a focus on neonatal hyperthyroidism. Thyroid, 1998.PMID 9920374
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