Effect of Wuyue Kangjia Pill in combination with western medicine treatment on thyroid volumes and serum insulin-like growth factor-I levels in patients with graves disease

Objective To study the effect of the Wuyue Kangjia Pill (WKP) in combination with medicine treatment on thyroid volumes and serum insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) levels in patients with Graves disease (GD). Methods 58 patients were divided into two groups: Group A was treated with methimazole (MT) or propylthiouracil (PTU) alone and Group B was treated with MT or PTU combined with WKP. Thyroid volumes and serum IGF-I levels in patients were also observed in Group A and B before and after treatment. The correlation between thyroid volumes and serum IGF-I levels in patients was analyzed. Results The two parameters in Group A and Group B were decreased after treatment (P0.05). They were decreased more in Group B than in Group A after treatment (all P0.01). There was a positive correlation between thyroid volumes and serum IGF-I levels in patients (r=0.57, P0.01). Conclusions WKP in combination with western medicine treatment can improve goiters more effectively than only traditional western medicine by decreasing serum IGF-I levels of patients with GD.