REVIEW  UPDATE ON DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF HYPERTHYROIDISM 

The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2021 June;65(2):113-23

DOI: 10.23736/S1824-4785.21.03334-3

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Medical treatment of thyrotoxicosis

Lorenzo SCAPPATICCIO ¹ ✉, Giuseppe BELLASTELLA ^{1, 2}, Maria I. MAIORINO ^{1, 2}, Luca GIOVANELLA ^{3, 4}, Katherine ESPOSITO ^{2, 5}

¹ Unit of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Luigi Vanvitelli University of Campania, Naples, Italy; ² Department of Advanced Medical and Surgical Sciences, Luigi Vanvitelli University of Campania, Naples, Italy; ³ Clinic for Nuclear Medicine and Competence Center for Thyroid Diseases, Imaging Institute of Southern Switzerland, Bellinzona, Switzerland; ⁴ Clinic for Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital and University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; ⁵ Unit of Diabetes, Luigi Vanvitelli University of Campania, Naples, Italy

Medical treatment is the primary therapeutic option for thyrotoxicosis/hyperthyroidism. Two groups of causes of thyrotoxicosis (i.e. thyrotoxicosis with hyperthyroidism and thyrotoxicosis without hyperthyroidism) need to be considered for therapeutic reasons. Herein we provide an updated review on the role of conventional medical therapies (i.e. β-blockers, antithyroid drugs [ATDs], corticosteroids, inorganic iodide, perchlorate, cholecystographic agents, lithium, cholestyramine) in the main causes of thyrotoxicosis, starting from the rationale subtending their clinical application.

KEY WORDS: Thyrotoxicosis; Hyperthyroidism; Therapy