How can we differentiate between Plummer's & Grave's diseases??
You can differentiate Plummer's from Grave's diseases clinically by 3 main points, these are:
- First, Plummer's disease tends to occur more often in elderly people, while Grave's dz. is affecting mostly young age group.
- Second, Plummer's dz. manifestations are mostly cardiac (tachcardia, any type of arrhythmias-except Heart block ,..etc) With little or absent eye signs of thyrotoxicosis. In contrast, Grave's disease exhibits marked eye manifestations with little or no cardiac signs.
- Third, Also you can palpate the Thyroid to find out whether it has nodular suface (Plummer's) or smooth surface with diffusly enlarged glang (Grave's).