Thyrotoxicosis: experience from the King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh

ABSTRACT

Ninety-one patients with thyrotoxicosis, 57 females and 34 males, 52 Saudis and 39 non-Saudis, were seen at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh. The mean age was 31.8 years. Seventy-eight patients had Grave's disease. Thyrotoxicosis caused by silent thyroiditis was about observed. Thyrotoxicosis had a low female preponderance with a female-to-male ratio of 1. 71 in the Saudi patients and 3.51 in non-Saudi. Patients with Graves' disease were characterized by a lower rate of ophthalmopathy [30%] than previously reported and by absence of pretibial myxedema. Medical treatment was the initial mode of management in all patients and in 60 patients was the maintenance treatment. Subtotal thyroidectomy was performed in 23 patients, and radioactive iodine ablation was the treatment for eight patients