Abstract
Hypothyroidism belongs to the most common medical conditions worldwide. The treatment of hypothyroidism is based on substitution by levothyroxine, and in areas of iodine deficiency an iodine substitution is crucial.
Generally, the treatment by levothyroxine is regarded as simple; drugs with levothyroxine are easily accessible and cheap, similarly as the trreatment monitoring by assessment of serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). However, in a nimber of patients the achievement of targeted TSH values is complicated.
This can be due to several reasons: malcompliance with treatment, malabsorption, tissue deiodinasemutation, switch from a brand preparation to generics etc. When deciding about the dosage of levothyroxine, we must consider also the age, sex, comorbidities and other special situations like pregnancy.
Thus, the treatment of hypothyroidism is not as easy as it seems at the first sight. In this article we review the most important factors influencing the treatment of hypothyroidism with focus on specific situations.