RAI in childhood Graves’ disease

A great deal of controversy surrounds the most appropriate treatments for Graves’ disease in children and adolescents. Antithyroid drugs have been the first-line therapy, but can be associated with side effects, prolonged therapy and relapse. Surgical near total thyroidectomy is heavily dependent on surgical skill and can induce permanent hypothyroidism. Radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy is becoming an established alternative. Cury and colleagues relate their clinical experience over 20 years with RAI in this setting, reporting that RAI is effective and safe for the treatment of Graves’ disease in this age group. Cury et al. (2013) Endocrine Connections 2, 32–37.

Read the full 'open access' article at DOI: 10.1530/EC-12-0049.