[Interdisciplinary diagnosis and treatment of endocrine orbitopathy (Graves' disease) (author's transl)]

Diagnosis and treatment of Graves' Disease requires in close cooperation between ophthalmologists, nuclear physicians and radiotherapists. Following detailed thyroid diagnostics, a prerequisite to balancing thyroid function, measures may be taken against eye and orbita changes, in accordance with the degree of severity of the disease. A classification of Graves' disease demands careful ophthalmological diagnosis, supplemented by sonography and computer tomography of the orbita. Corresponding to the stages of the disease described, therapeutic measures are outlined; these consist essentially of systemic cortico-steroid treatment, high-voltage radiation of the retrobulbar space, prism therapy and surgery of the muscles.