Thyroid Emergencies

Thyroid crises in both extremes have high mortality. Thyrotoxic crisis is an acute exacerbation of thyrotoxicosis that may lead to cardiovascular collapse and death. With the advancement of diagnostic facilities and improvement of health care systems, thyrotoxic crisis is becoming less frequent these days. Common precipitating factors for such a crisis are infection, radioiodine therapy and thyroidectomy without control of thyrotoxicosis. The diagnosis of thyrotoxic crisis is based on a high index of clinical suspicion. The opposite end of the spectrum is myxaedema coma, the end point of chronic thyroid deficiency, exhibiting wide spread organ system dysfunction. The condition is most often seen in elderly women and aggressive treatment is required.