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becoming a better Clinician
Thyroid Dysfunction in the Critically Ill
last updated: November 8, 2016
Orlando Debesa
Euthyroid Sick Syndrome (aka Non-thyroidal illness)
- the thyroid is not the problem (eg. treat underlying problem)
- when someone is sick you don't need thyroid hormone, so T4 is dumped into rT3 (inactive form)
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TSH: normal / low
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FT4: normal / low
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T3: very low
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rT3: high (hallmark)
TSH values during critical illness
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