Скачать или смотреть 1,000th Thyroid Surgery: How Caitlin Found Relief from Graves’ Disease

When Caitlin was 12 years old, blood tests confirmed a lifechanging diagnosis: Graves’ disease. She found relief through thyroid surgery – the 1,000th performed at CHOP. http://info.chop.edu/thyroid

As a competitive wrestler, Caitlin was shaking uncontrollably, losing weight rapidly, sweating excessively and constantly feeling overheated, even in cold weather. Her body didn’t feel like her own. After her diagnosis, Caitlin’s care was quickly transitioned here to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where Andrew J. Bauer, MD, endocrinologist and Medical Director of our Pediatric Thyroid Center, began guiding her treatment.

Graves’ disease is an autoimmune disorder that causes overactivity of the thyroid. It gave Caitlin a host of symptoms that mimicked other conditions. She struggled to focus while in her classes, her mind constantly either racing or clouded with fatigue. For years, Caitlin lived with a large goiter and an overactive thyroid, unsure about the future.

Right before her 20th birthday, Caitlin underwent thyroid surgery with N. Scott Adzick, MD, MMM, FACS, FAAP, our Surgeon-in-Chief. And her procedure was part of a major milestone for the hospital. Caitlin’s thyroidectomy was the 1,000th thyroid surgery performed at CHOP, a benchmark no other pediatric hospital in the world has reached. This milestone reflects our depth of experience and our multidisciplinary approach to treating rare and complex thyroid conditions.

Now, Caitlin is looking forward to the future. She’s in school and working, thinking about a career she’ll love, and maybe even a family one day, something she once worried might be out of reach because of Graves’ disease.