Help Wanted: Poland

From ThyroWorld Volume 1 No. 2

Dr. Agata Waligorska, would like to start a thyroid support group in Krakow, Poland. The Department of Endocrinology, Jagiellonian University, has been treating Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) patients since 1990.

We treat the patient first for thyrotoxicosis; then for TED with steroids or radiation therapy. We keep close contact with their patients as long as necessary and are therefore aware of the many problems a thyroid patient has to deal with: work, stress, family misunderstandings, the decision for surgery, etc.

Krakow, as well as the southern part of Poland, suffers from moderate iodine deficiency, which has been recently addressed by introducing obligatory iodine supplementation. We look forward to eliminating iodine deficiency; however, we anticipate an increased occurrence of hyperthyroidism.

The majority of outpatients suffer from some form of thyroid disorder. Most come for nodular goitre, Graves' disease, other forms of hyperthyroidism or TED. Most TED patients are treated in hospital. Dr. Waligorska is very pleased that the opthalmologists are now sending patients earlier to the clinic for treatment.

Anyone interested in helping start a thyroid patient support group in Poland, please contact:

Dr. Agata Waligorska
ENDO. Dept, CMUY Al Kopernika 17
31501 Krakow, Poland
Fax/Tel: 98 (012) 921.40.59