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Background and Aims: Due to the worldwide increasing prevalence of diabetes (DM), patients with both diabetes and Graves' disease (GD) have become more frequent. Sporadic reports indicate that Graves' orbitopathy (GO), a GD complication that affects orbital soft tissues, can be severe in DM patients. The relationship between these diseases is not well understood. This study aims at evaluating the association of GD and GO with autoimmune and non-autoimmune diabetes (DM) and to assess diabetic features that influence GD and GO prevalence and severity., Methods and Results: This retrospective study evaluated GD, GO and DM association in 1211 consecutive GD patients (447 with GO and 77 with DM). A case-control study was carried out to evaluate DM relationship with GO severity by comparing at 1:2 ratio GO patients with or without DM. A strong association was found between GD and T1DM (p = 0.01) but not T2DM. Instead, the presence of GO was strongly associated with T2DM (p = 0.01). Moreover, GO was more frequently severe in GD patients with T2DM (11/30 or 36.6%) than in those without T2DM (1/60 or 1.7%, p = 0.05). T2DM was the strongest risk factor for severe GO (OR = 34.1 vs. 4.4 p < 0.049 in cigarette smokers). DM duration, obesity and vascular complications, but not metabolic control were significant determinants of GO severity., Conclusions: GD is associated with T1DM but not with T2DM, probably because of the common autoimmune background. GO, in contrast, is more frequent and severe in T2DM, significantly associated with obesity, diabetes duration and diabetic vasculopathy but not metabolic control., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background and Objective: Both extraocular muscle (EOM) and orbital fat are involved in Graves' orbitopathy (GO) but their enlargement might occur with a different temporal pattern. Two GO subtypes have been described, one with predominant EOM enlargement and the other with prevalent fat tissue involvement. We longitudinally investigated the EOM in patients with GO and their relationship with clinical activity., Patients and Methods: By using commercial software with a segmentation technique, we calculated from computed tomography (CT) scan EOM coronal area (CA) and total orbit coronal area (TOA) in 23 control subjects and in 32 patients with GO. The latter were studied both at presentation and 18 months later. Superior, lateral, inferior, and medial EOM areas and TOA were selected by 3 different contiguous CT slices: A, B, and C, chosen at globe pole tangent and 2 and 4 mm backward. The Clinical Activity Score (CAS) was also measured., Results: Orbital EOM CA/TOA ratio (OM/TOA ratio) after 18 months decreased in most patients with GO, indicating that EOM area decrement contributed significantly to OM/TOA ratio reduction. Clinical Activity Score decrease was significantly correlated to the OM/TOA ratio decrease., Conclusions: An easy method to measure CA of EOM and orbit allowed us to observe that in most patients with GO the OM/TOA ratio decreases with time, suggesting that macroscopic EOM involvement occurs initially and resolves as the other clinical signs and symptoms of the disease resolve, as indicated by the significant OM/TOA ratio correlation with CAS.

Background: Percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) is used to treat cystic or mixed benign thyroid nodules. This treatment can result in rare complications, and three cases of Graves' disease (GD) without Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) have been reported after PEI treatment of toxic thyroid adenomas. Here we present a 55-year-old male patient who developed GD and severe GO after PEI treatment of a mixed cystic-solid, nontoxic thyroid nodule., Patient Findings: Six months after PEI, the nodule volume had decreased from 8.9 to 3.0 mL, but we observed severe hyperthyroidism with elevated serum free triiodothyronine, free thyroxine, and thyrotropin receptor antibody levels. We also observed ophthalmopathy with symmetrical orbit and soft tissue involvement (grade b/c) and a clinical activity score of 4/7. The diagnosis of GO was confirmed by bilateral corneal damage, increased intraocular pressure on upgaze, and inconstant diplopia. A computed tomography scan showed that the inferior, medial, and superior extraocular muscles were bilaterally enlarged, the perineural space at the orbital cone was slightly reduced and the ophthalmic vein was congested., Summary: A cause-effect relationship between PEI and GD/GO was likely in this patient because of the temporal sequence. Although the mechanism was unknown, we speculated that the thyroid tissue damage caused by PEI released a large amount of antigenic materials from follicular thyroid cells, including thyrotropin receptor protein, which triggered the autoimmune inflammatory response against the thyroid itself and the orbital soft tissues. The patient did not have any risk factors for either GD or GO., Conclusions: This observation raises the concern, therefore, that unpredictable and severe complications, such as GD and GO, may occur in a few patients treated with PEI.