Clinical features and treatment modalities of graves ophthalmopathy cases in a tertiary referral center in turkey.

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the clinical features and treatment modalities of graves ophthalmopathy according to EUGOGO parameters and give demographic, clinical and therapeutic data in a tertiary referral center in Turkey.The clinical data of 344 cases (233 female, 111 male) demonstrating Graves? orbitopathy (GO) were retrospectively evaluated. All cases were analyzed for age, gender, duration of thyroid and eye diseases. The medical history for thyroid and ocular disease, clinical features of GO and therapeutic approaches were investigated.The mean age of the cases was 41.6±13.1 years. The mean durations of the thyroid and eye diseases were 42.6 months, and 26.1 months, respectively. Antithyroid drugs were used in 79.3%, thyroidectomy in 29.3%, and radioactive iodine in 18.3% of the cases alone or in combination for the management of thyroid disease. The patients showed mild, moderate and severe orbital disease in 54.4%, 32.2% and 13.4% respectively. The most frequent finding was proptosis (75.1%) which was followed by soft tissue signs (44.3%), extraocular muscle dysfunction (24.5%), corneal involvement (7.5%) and optic nerve involvement (12.2%). Most cases demonstrating mild disease have received only topical medications. The remaining cases were treated with bone and/or fat decompression (25%), corticosteroids (17.4%), orbital radiotherapy (5.7%), eyelid surgery (9%), extraocular muscle surgery and/or prisms (9% ) alone or in combination.The management of orbital disease is usually challenging and standardization of examination findings and treatment modalities in a multidisciplinary approach is necessary. A multidisciplinary approach may increase the success rate of treatment of GO which is seen endemically in Turkey and decrease morbidity of disease and surgery.