Graves' disease (GD) is the commonest cause of an overactive thyroid, or in medical terms hyperthyroidism. The other name for an overactive thyroid is thyrotoxicosis. The name Graves is derived from a person's name, Robert Graves. I always explain to a patient that you have Graves' disease not a "grave" disease.
GD is an autoimmune disorder, that is the body's immune system has turned on itself and attacked various different tissues. The tissues affected by GD are the thyroid, the eyes (poppy eyes) and very rarely the skin on the front of the legs (pretibial myxedema). The mechanism of immune attack is clear for the thyroid but less clear for the eyes of the skin. In the case of the thyroid there is an antibody that is directed against the TSH receptor (TRAb) that overstimulates the thyroid gland activity.
GD is an autoimmune disorder, that is the body's immune system has turned on itself and attacked various different tissues. The tissues affected by GD are the thyroid, the eyes (poppy eyes) and very rarely the skin on the front of the legs (pretibial myxedema). The mechanism of immune attack is clear for the thyroid but less clear for the eyes of the skin. In the case of the thyroid there is an antibody that is directed against the TSH receptor (TRAb) that overstimulates the thyroid gland activity.
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