Treatment of pretibial myxedema with intralesional immunomodulating therapy

Local immune regulation therapy has been one of the therapeutic methods used for the treatment of autoimmune thyroid disease in patients with pretibial myxedema (PTM). However, the poor response rate and high recurrence rate are still major problems. Whether a premixed corticosteroid, compound betamethasone, could enhance remission rate and decrease recurrence rate in patients with PTM was investigated in the present study. We have performed a clinical utility observation of compound betamethasone with intralesional injections based on basic thyroid disease treatment in 32 PTM patients between January 2008 and August 2016. The patients were followed up for 2 years, and the clinical outcomes and side effects were calculated and analyzed. All patients had a complete remission after different times of injection. A total of 21.7% patients had complete remission with one time of injection, 34.8% with two times of injection, 17.4% with three times of injection, 4.3% with four times of injection, and 4.3% with five times of injection. In all, 56.3% patients with a disease duration of