Successful Treatment of a Patient with Graves' Disease on Hemodialysis Complicated by Antithyroid Drug-Induced Granulocytopenia and Angina Pectoris

Abstract

We report here a patient with recurrent Graves' disease on hemodialysis. She also suffered from angina pectoris, which was probably a manifestation of Graves' disease due to the increased oxygen demands in the presence of fixed coronary lesions. Although antithyroid drugs induced mild granulocytopenia, propylthiouracil (PTU) or methimazole (MMI) was not discontinued during the administration of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF). The patient received sodium iodine-131 therapy, and became euthyroid with no chest pain. To our knowledge, this is the first case that illustrated the usefulness of G-CSF for antithyroid drug-induced granulocytopenia prior to thyroid ablation for Graves' disease complicated with chronic renal failure and angina pectoris.