THE demonstration by the Mackenzies (1) and by Astwood and his collaborators (2, 3) that thiourea and related compounds affect the thyroid gland in a striking and peculiar manner placed in the hands of thyroidologists both a new tool for studying thyroid physiology and a therapeutic agent of interesting potentialities. Prior to the reports of the investigators just mentioned, our interest in goitrogenous agents had been aroused by the finding of patients made goiterous by the use of thiocyanate for the treatment of hypertension (4). When the thioureas appeared on the scene, therefore, we decided at once to obtain personal experience in the use of such an agent in cases of Graves' disease. We selected thiouracil, the member of this group advocated by Astwood (5) as most suitable for this purpose. Three questions particularly interested us. First, what is the action of thiouracil upon the thyroid gland in Graves' disease? Second, what is its value as a preparation for thyroidectomy in Graves' disease? And third, what is its value as a treatment per se in Graves' disease? Inasmuch as others (5, 6) were working on the last question we decided to concentrate on the first and second.
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Rawson et al. (1944) studied this question.