[Surgical treatment of Graves' disease]

In the surgical treatment of Graves' disease, there are several concepts established. The methods of bilateral subtotal resection, hemithyreoidectomy combined with contralateral subtotal resection, near-total resection and total thyreoidectomy all have there rightful placement in the surgical treatment of Graves' disease. The method of choice should be selected according to the activity of the disease. To avoid a recurrence of the disease, the more aggressive resections have proven to be more successful and there's evidence of preference of these techniques lately. Despite the more refined surgical techniques, the radical resections are still burdened with higher complication rates, specifically recurrent nerve palsy and hypoparathyroidism. Due to the excellent long lasting results of total thyreoidectomy, this concept appears to be the most convincing when technically well administered as it reliably cures the disease. The further development and regular use of technical aid such as surgical magnification lenses and neuromonitoring are expected to eventually help improve the more radical surgical concepts in the future. The prospect of combining surgical therapy with radioiodine-therapy may represent a chance to cure Graves' disease effectively and minimize complications from different sides.