Endocrine Abstracts

Subclinical hypothyroidism (SHypo) is characterized by elevated serum TSH and thyroid hormone levels at the lower limit but within their respective reference range.It is necessary to distinguish between patients with mildly increased serum TSH levels (5–9 mU/L) and patients with more severely increased serum TSH levels (10 mU/l or higher). About 75% of all SHypo patients have mild disease.The high prevalence (between 4 and 20%...

Subclinical hyperthyroidism (SHyper) is defined as serum FT4 and FT3 levels within their respective reference ranges in the presence of is low or undetectable serum TSH levels. The most common cause of SHyper is exogenous SHyper due to unintentional excessive replacement therapy in hypothyroid patients or to intentional TSH suppressive therapy for malignant thyroid disease. Endogenous SHyper is commonly associated with autonomous thyroid function as occur...

The cardiovascular system is one of the major targets of thyroid hormone action, sensitive enough to detect the effects of thyroid hormone excess or deficiency at tissue level. Triiodothyronine (T3) acts on the heart and vascular system by classic genomic as well as non-genomic mechanisms and influences heart rate, systolic and diastolic function and systemic vascular resistance thereby affecting cardiac performance. In human short-term overt hyperthyroidism, the increase in l...

The objective of our study was to evaluate the potential benefit of short-term combined treatment with LT4plusLT3 in patients with persistent hypothyroidism and malabsorption. We report ten cases of patients with hypothyroidism secondary to total thyroidectomy, in which high doses of L-T4 (2,7-3.5 mcg/kg/die) were not adequate to normalize thyroid function. TSH was persistently high (from 10 to 100 mU/L) with low serum levels of thyroid hormones.<p class="ab...

Aim: To address the role of FDG/PET-CT in the follow-up of DTC.Methods: About 110 consecutive patients (86 female, 24 male, mean age 45±13 years), with DTC were selected between 1999 and 2006. All patients underwent total thyroidectomy, radioiodine ablation and had undetectable serum thyroglobulin (Tg) during L-T4 suppressive therapy and negative serum TgAb. The follow-up included a yearly clinical examination with n...

Background: Resistance to thyroid hormone (RTH) is an inherited condition of reduced tissue responsiveness to thyroid hormone (TH), biochemically characterized by elevated serum TH concentrations, with inappropriate, non-suppressed thyrotropin levels (TSH). It is caused by point mutations in the ligand binding domain of the TH receptor (TR) β gene, and the mutant TR interferes with the function of the normal TRs (dominant negative effect). The clinical manifestations of R...

Background: TSH-suppressive therapy is widely used in treatment of thyroid differentiated carcinoma. A common consequence of therapy is subclinical hyperthyroidism which may cause dysfunction of cardiovascular system, metabolism and reduction of bone mass1. Thyroid hormones are also involved in regulation of brain function2. Therefore, it is not surprising that thyroid dysfunctions are associated with frequent comorbid cognitive dysfunctions and depressio...