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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.
Initial blood tests often include thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (T4). [9] Total and free triiodothyronine (T3) levels are less commonly used. [9] If autoimmune disease of the thyroid is suspected, blood tests looking for Anti-thyroid autoantibodies can also be obtained. Procedures such as ultrasound, biopsy and a ...
The concentration of thyroid hormones (T 3 and T 4) in the blood regulates the pituitary release of TSH; when T 3 and T 4 concentrations are low, the production of TSH is increased, and, conversely, when T 3 and T 4 concentrations are high, TSH production is decreased. This is an example of a negative feedback loop. [5]
The TSH index is reduced in patients with secondary hypothyroidism resulting from thyrotropic insufficiency. [1] [9] [10] [11] For this indication, it has, however, up to now only been validated in adults. [12] JTI was also found reduced in cases of TACITUS syndrome (non-thyroidal illness syndrome) as an example of type 1 thyroid allostasis.
Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) released from the anterior pituitary (also known as the adenohypophysis) binds the TSH receptor (a G s protein-coupled receptor) on the basolateral membrane of the cell and stimulates the endocytosis of the colloid. The endocytosed vesicles fuse with the lysosomes of the follicular cell.
The diagnosis of hyperthyroidism is confirmed by blood tests that show a decreased thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level and elevated T 4 and T 3 levels. TSH is a hormone made by the pituitary gland in the brain that tells the thyroid gland how much hormone to make. When there is too much thyroid hormone, the TSH will be low.
The TSH, in turn, stimulates the thyroid to produce thyroid hormone until levels in the blood return to normal. Thyroid hormone exerts negative feedback control over the hypothalamus as well as anterior pituitary, thus controlling the release of both TRH from hypothalamus and TSH from anterior pituitary gland.
The first laboratory test to help assess thyroid status was the serum protein-bound iodine, which came into use around the 1950s. In 1971, the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) radioimmunoassay was developed, which was the most specific marker for assessing thyroid status in patients. [82]