Abstract
Graves-Basedow (GB) disease is the most common cause of thyrotoxicosis, with the prevalence of 0,5%. When diagnosed, there are three treatment options we can choose from: thyreostatic drugs administration, radioiodine 131 I therapy (RAI), or total thyroidectomy.
Approaches vary from one country to another. In the United States RAI treatment is considered in the first place, while in European countries (and in the Czech Republic as well) it is the thyreostatic drug therapy which is used first-line.
Radioiodine was introduced as a treatment for Graves'disease for the first time by Hertz and Roberts at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston in 1941. Since then, it has been given in this indication to a large number of patients all over the world, which proved this treatment method to be effective, safe and cheap.
The indication spectrum has been extended to other causes of hyperthyroidism (such as toxic multinodular goitre and toxic adenoma). However, even more than sixty years of history has not brought any unified approach to the use of this treatment method.
In this paper we have tried to provide a comprehensive view of autoimmune thyrotoxicosis where the latest findings were taken into account, and to offer our own approach to RAI treatment which is based on our practice.