Letter: The treatment of Graves disease.

Abstract

To the Editor.— In a letter by Caswell and Maier (227:939, 1974) on the treatment of Graves disease, the authors conclude that the advantages of surgical treatment over radioactive iodine therapy and antithyroid drug treatment ensure that it will continue to be the standard by which other treatment methods are measured. They studied 72 patients with previous subtotal thyroidectomy for Graves disease and found a low incidence of postoperative hypothyroidism (10%) as well as a low incidence of recurrent hyperthyroidism (6%).1In support of this view, Griffiths et al,2studying 55 thyrotoxic patients following thyroidectomy, recently reported an 11% incidence of hypothyroidism and 3.5% incidence of recurrence. Successful treatment with radioactive iodine, on the other hand, is accompanied by an incidence of hypothyroidism of between 30% and 70% by 10 to 20 years of followup.3 It should be pointed out, however, that all studies are not in