A Pediatric Case of Graves’ Disease Treated by Surgery

Abstract

Graves’ disease is rarely encountered in children, and pediatric cases of Graves’ disease are often difficult to treat with antithyroid drugs, owing to the nature of the adverse reactions to these drugs. Thyroidectomy may be indicated in children with Graves’ disease who cannot be continued on pharmacotherapy. However, as compared with adults, pediatric cases of Graves’ disease treated by surgery show a higher frequency of recurrence and also a higher frequency of complications, especially recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis and hypocalcemia. We report a case of Graves’ disease in a 5-year-old girl, in whom antithyroid pharmacotherapy had to be discontinued because of the occurrence of neutropenia. Consequently, we treated the child by thyroidectomy without complications or recurrence, in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team that included pediatricians, anesthesiologists, and cardiovascular surgeons.