[Are anti-thyroid drugs and iodine preparations for surgical preparation in Basedow's disease still current today?]

From 1979 to 1989, in 1938 hyperthyroid patients with different preoperative treatment, thyreotoxic crisis did no longer occur. In a prospective study, 28 patients with graves' disease were operated in severe hyperthyroidism (max. fT3 37.3 pmol/l, normal range 4.0-9.0; max. fT4 12.6 ng/dl, normal range 0.7-1.9) premedicated only by betablockers: the man of fT3 sank significantly within 1 hour after operation and returned to normal range after 8 hours. The fT4 sank significantly within the 1st postop. day and reached its normal value on the 4th postop. day. No rise of fT3 or fT4 was ever observed, nor was there any clinical sign of thyreotoxicosis. Therefore in hyperthyroidism, a routine preoperative treatment with antithyroid drugs or iodine is not necessary.