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Robert Graves first identified the association of goiter, palpitations, and exophthalmos in 1835, although Caleb Parry had published details of a case 10 years earlier. The discovery of a thyroid-stimulating factor that was not thyrotropin in the serum of patients with Graves' hyperthyroidism1 was followed by the identification of this stimulator as an IgG antibody.2 It is now clear that Graves' hyperthyroidism is caused by these thyroid-stimulating antibodies, which bind to and activate the thyrotropin receptor on thyroid cells.3 Graves' disease also affects the eyes (Graves' ophthalmopathy) and the skin (localized dermopathy or myxedema), but the causes of these less . . .
Anthony P. Weetman (Thu,) studied this question.