Dental amalgam implantation and thyroid autoimmunity.

OBJECTIVE: Mercury was heavily studied as a factor in the autoimmune processes. We aimed to observe whether mercury of amalgam is associated with Hashimoto disease. BACKGROUND: 363 patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and 365 control subjects were included in to the study. Amalgam fillings were checked by the physician. METHODS: 363 (49.9 %) patients and 365 (50.1 %) healthy controls were included into the study. Hashimoto's thyroiditis was diagnosed with thyroid hormones, antithyroid antibody levels, and ultrasonographic findings. Control subjects were selected from patients with no known autoimmune diseases. They were controlled with ultrasonography, as well as antibody titers. None of them had Hashimoto's thyroiditis. RESULTS: Sex distribution of the study population was following: 319 (87.9 %) female, 44 (12.1 %) male in the patient group and 277 (75.9 %) male and 88 (24.1 %) female in healthy control subjects, respectively. Mean free T4 values for Hashimoto's thyroiditis and healthy control group were 15.30±0.76, 17.30±0.96 pmol/L and mean TSH values for Hashimoto's thyroiditis and healthy control group were 9.29±20.79, 1.20±0.32 uIU/ml. Frequency of dental amalgam implantation in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis was not statistically significantly different from healthy controls (p=186) (t=-1.324) CONCLUSIONS: Some studies identified mercury of amalgam as responsible for autoimmune thyroiditis. We studied whether amalgam fillings are more frequent in Hashimoto's thyroiditis patients and whether it is a causative factor for Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Statistical analysis revealed that there is no relation of amalgam with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (Tab. 1, Ref. 34).

Dual ectopic thyroid gland with Graves' disease and unilateral ophthalmopathy: a case report and review of the literature.

Ectopic thyroid gland (ETG) is a rare entity and can be seen anywhere in the route of descending gland. It is much rarer when encountered away from the midline. Dual ETG is such a rare entity that only a few have been reported in the literature. ETGs not only cause thyroid dysfunction, most commonly hypothyroidism and rarely hyperthyroidism, but also frequent local symptoms. Therapeutic options change according to patients' co-morbid diseases, age, size of goiter and presence of local symptoms. Graves' disease is very rarely detected in a patient with ectopic thyroid. There is no report in literature concerning ectopic thyroid presenting with Graves' disease and unilateral ophthalmopathy. We describe a case with dual ETG and Graves' disease and unilateral ophthalmopathy: it is the first reported in literature.

Effect of lipoprotein apheresis on oxidative stress and antioxidant status in familial hypercholesterolemic patients.

Extracorporeal low-density lipoprotein (LDL) apheresis is an established and highly effective therapy for the patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) not adequately responding to diet and drug therapy alone. This study was designed to measure the effect of lipid apheresis on oxidant and antioxidant status in a patient with FH. The levels of plasma lipid peroxidation were determined as thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances. The activities of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were established in one subject with FH before and after lipid apheresis. The pre- and post lipid apheresis procedures witness a significant decrease in oxidative stress (p < 0.05) but the erythrocyte levels of CAT, SOD and GPx were unchanged.