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Thyroid function tests (TFTs) is a collective term for blood tests used to check the function of the thyroid. [1] TFTs may be requested if a patient is thought to suffer from hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid) or hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), or to monitor the effectiveness of either thyroid-suppression or hormone replacement therapy.
TSH levels are determined by a classic negative feedback system in which high levels of T3 and T4 suppress the production of TSH, and low levels of T3 and T4 increase the production of TSH. TSH levels are thus often used by doctors as a screening test, where the first approach is to determine whether TSH is elevated, suppressed, or normal. [25]
Thyroid hormone binding ratio (THBR) is a thyroid function test that measures the "uptake" of T3 or T4 tracer by thyroid-binding globulin (TBG) in a given serum sample. This provides an indirect and reciprocal estimate of the available binding sites on TBG within the sample.
Women are more likely to develop hypothyroidism than men. In population-based studies, women were seven times more likely than men to have TSH levels above 10 mU/L. [8] 2–4% of people with subclinical hypothyroidism will progress to overt hypothyroidism each year. The risk is higher in those with antibodies against thyroid peroxidase.
Thyroid hormones act on nearly every cell in the body. They act to increase the basal metabolic rate, affect protein synthesis, help regulate long bone growth (synergy with growth hormone) and neural maturation, and increase the body's sensitivity to catecholamines (such as adrenaline) by permissiveness. [12]
Low-T3 syndrome and high-T3 syndrome: Consequences of step-up hypodeiodination, e.g. in critical illness as an example for type 1 allostasis, [20] or hyperdeiodination, as in type 2 allostasis, including posttraumatic stress disorder. [12] Resistance to thyroid hormone: Feedback loop interrupted on the level of pituitary thyroid hormone receptors.
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Affected patients may have normal, low, or slightly elevated TSH depending on the spectrum and phase of illness. Total T4 and T3 levels may be altered by binding protein abnormalities, and medications. Reverse T3 levels are generally increased, while FT3 is decreased. FT4 levels may have a transient increase, before becoming subnormal during ...