Graves Disease

Graves' Disease, Basedow's Disease, Exophthalmic Goitre (Gk. ex, out, ophthaliiios, eye), a disease of which palpitation, enlargement of the thyroid gland, and protrusion of the eyeballs are the associated characteristic symptoms. This malady usually occurs in young adult women. Its cause is obscure, but is supposed to be in some way connected with disease of the cervical sympathetic nerves. The first symptom to appear is usually palpitation. As a rule, the prominence of the eyeballs is noticed before the enlargement of the thyroid gland. The disease is not uncommonly accompanied by morbid structural changes in the alves of the heart. Exophthalmic goitre is not in itself, as a rule, a fatal malady.