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Reinhardt et al., Borkum, Germany, studied thyroid function in 108 male
patients who had mild to moderate chronic obstructive lung disease and/or
allergic dermatological diseases before and after a 4 week vacation in
a health spa on the island Borkum. The patients were not using medication
known to influence thyroid function. They found before vs. after vacation
the following results: T4 95.5 vs. 88.1 nmol/L, T3 2.20 vs. 2.11 nmol/L,
FT4 16 vs. 15 pmol/L, TSH 1.20 vs. 1.55 mU/L. All these changes are significant.
(Comment: The biological significance of these results is difficult to
understand but point to an adjustment of the TSH-serum thyroid hormone
ratio.
Duntas et al., Drama, Greece, studied timedependent recovery of TSH after withdrawal of L-T4 suppressive therapy, using a 3rd generation TSH assay. Their studies were done on 16 patients with fully suppressed TSH. They found that recovery of TSH secretion is a gradual phenomenon, and TSH remains depressed at least 2 weeks after discontinuation of T4. Benvenga et al., Messina, Italy, studied the induction of thyroid hormone autoantibodies after fine needle biopsy of the thyroid in 213 patients biopsied because of cold nodules. They found that thyroid hormone autoantibodies (more IgM type than IgG type) can be produced after release of thyroglobulin from the thyroid gland into the blood by fine needle biopsy. This even occurs in patients who were previously negative for thyroglobulin antibodies in the serum. The prevalence of these antibodies is 3.8% vs. 0.03% in unselective nonbiopsied thyroid patients. Thyroid hormone antibodies were directed predominantly against T3 but also against T4, but not against both hormones. |
