Use Of Thyroid Extract Research Articles

The clinical impact of thyroid epidemiology

Abnormalities of the thyroid gland have been recorded for nearly four millennia. Approximately 1600 BC, the Chinese were reported to use burnt seaweed to treat enlarged thyroids, a treatment that was still being used by the Romans according to Pliny. Use of thyroid extract was first reported in 1475

Dr Gee's cross examination continues.

The trial of Dr Sidney Gee's ?bel action against the BBC over allegations about his slimming treatment broadcast on That s Life adjourned for the Christmas break on 20 December, Dr Gee's 28th day in the witness box. In a lengthy cross examination about Dr Gee's use of thyroid extract in treating obesity Andrew Rankin QC, leading counsel for the BBC, suggested that to give a eu thyroid patient just one of Dr Gee's thyroid tablets a day would result in virtual suppression of the thyroid gland over a period of time. This would cause no harm because the gland would remain suppressed and the patient would receive sufficient thyroid hormone from the tablet. But given two tablets, patients would become hyperthyroid within months. In reply Dr Gee referred to a 1968 article that showed that thyroxine was poorly absorbed. Thyroid extract, he said, had an even worse absorption rate?only 30-40%. Mr Rankin countered that the replacement dose of 300 \x% for patients without any thyroid function mentioned in the article was now outdated; 150 jig was now considered to be the correct dose. Dr Gee replied that at the absorption rate specified in the article 150 \ig would mean only about 60 ug available to the body. He did not accept Mr Rankin's suggestion that the replacement dose already took into account the rate of absorption. Counsel quoted from an article on the administration of thyroid hormone to obese patients: Four out of 21 subjects had to discontinue thyroid because of ill effects. The subjects developed angina on effort in the absence of a prior history of coronary disease. Though he accepted that the dosage of thyroid hormone was 480 mg a day (230 mg a day more than Dr Gee's dose), the article showed that giving thyroid hormone in a particular dose could produce angina. He quoted further: Cardiac arrhythmias have been reported during weight loss. Under such circumstances a subject may well be more vulnerable to the sympathomimetic effect of thyroid and develop a variety of cardiac abnormalities. Dr Gee replied that the adverse circumstances in these cases were due to a combination of large doses and potassium depletion. The patients were receiving not thyroid extract but a synthetic mixture, and the daily doses were 360-840 mg. The paper, he pointed out, went on: With four exceptions, these subjects seemed to tolerate the large amounts of thyroid given without developing the usual manifestations of toxicity. This experience parallels the observations of others who described only minor ill effects in obese subjects or in mildly overweight, healthy volunteers to whom thyroid in equivalent as well as larger doses was given.

Treatment of thyrotoxicosis with 125I and 131I

The mode of decay of 125I, which emits in the course of its transmutation cascades of low-energy Auger electrons of a high linear energy transfer (LET), explains its radiobiologic effectiveness in the thyroid gland. The radiation dose delivered to the colloid-cell interphase of the thyroid follicle by disintegration of 125I is about two to four times higher than the dose to this region from the same amount of 131I, when measured and expressed in Rems. At the same time, the cell nucleus receives only about one-third of the radiation delivered to the apical zone, the presumptive site of hormonogenesis in the thyroid follicle. Two years of trial with various methods and doses of 125I have shown that minimal amounts in the range of 1–3 mCi are able to induce a remission of thyrotoxicosis; that the incidence of hypothyroidism seems to be quite low, and partly transient; and that the whole-body exposure is much lower than from 131I treatment. The most promising results have been achieved by the administration of a mixed dose of 123I plus 131I. Some laboratory results suggest that the damage to the apical membrane from 123I stimulates the release of TSH from the hypophysis, and that prophylactic use of thyroid extract during the course of this treatment may be indicated.

THE RELATION OF BLOOD VOLUME TO CERTAIN GLANDS OF INTERNAL SECRETION. EFFECT OF THYROID AND GONAD ABLATION

A striking reduction of blood volume is present in individuals with thrombo-angiitis obliterans (1). The change is due to a reduction of whole blood, although the decrease in plasma is probably slightly greater than that of the cells. In anemias and myxedema a reduction has also been noted, but in these cases the plasma volume is relatively normal, and this reduction of total volume is due to a diminished number of cells (2). A reduced blood volume following bilateral oophorectomy in women and animals has been reported (3). Together with the reduction in blood volume there is found an increase in certain chemical constituents of the blood. These changes closely resemble those found in the blood of individuals suffering with thrombo-angiitis obliterans. In spite of these alterations, no serious clinical manifestations have been noted in these bilaterally oöphorectomized women. Stimulated by the work of Thompson, who showed that in myxedema cases an increase of blood volume could be produced by the use of thyroid extract (2), we treated thrombo-angiitis obliterans cases with thyroid and noted a rapid increase in blood volume (4). “We therefore felt that the relationship of thyroid activity to blood volume was worthy of further experimental study. We performed thyroidectomies on male and female cats in order to determine the effect of this procedure. Since striking differences were noted in the two sexes, we investigated the effect of the removal of the gonads. Differences were also observed in the two sexes following gonadectomy.

The suggested use of thyroid extract to reduce the incidence of postoperative embolism : Walters, Waltman, Rochester, Minn. Minnesota Med., Jan., 1927, x, 25

The suggested use of thyroid extract to reduce the incidence of postoperative embolism : Walters, Waltman, Rochester, Minn. Minnesota Med., Jan., 1927, x, 25

The Use of Thyroid Extract

The Use of Thyroid Extract

The effect of thyroid gland from young calf upon the blood sugar in depancreatized dogs

Every clinician must have observed from time to time the appearance of sugar in the urine after prolonged use of thyroid extract in patients. Magnus-Levy writes that glycosuria may be noted from large dosages of thyroid in man as well as in dogs. Since glycosuria may occur as a result of thyroid feeding, it was thought that the high percentage of iodine in the gland of the ox might be the determining factor in the appearance of sugar in the urine after prolonged use of the drug. According to Hammarsten the thyroid of man contains 0.34 per cent. iodine; the thyroid of ox contains 0.86 per cent. It was thought that thyroid which is iodine free must have the reverse effect on the blood-sugar contents. It is a well established fact that the thyroid of newborn animals does not contain iodine. Thyroids from such calves were procured from the slaughter house immediately after killing and extracts from the weighed glands prepared. The alcoholic extracts in Ringers solution were injected intravenously or subcutaneously'or administered by the stomach tube to dogs. The extracts were prepared in the same manner as the pancreatic extracts by Banting and Best. After weighing the thyroids they were cut in very small pieces and placed in 0.2 per cent. HCl in 95 per cent. alcohol and allowed to stand for two days. They mere then macerated with quartz and filtered, or when using large amounts first macerated and then put in a press and filtered. The clear filtrate was evaporated to dryness in a warm air current. On the next day or on the third day the dry residue was emulsified with 25 C.C. Ringers solution. 25 C.C. of this solution contained the thyroid residue from 10, 20 or 50 grams gland.

An Investigation as to the Therapeutic Value of Thyroid Feeding in Mental Diseases

The history of the use of thyroid extract in insanity dates back to the year 1893, when McPherson (1), of Larbert Asylum, reported a case of myxódematous insanity which recovered from both the myxódema and the mental disorder under its use. Its use in cretinism has also met with much success. My investigations, however, are confined to its use in mental conditions not associated with myxódema or cretinism. In 1894 McClaughey (2), of the District Asylum, Maryborough, reported two cases as improved, and in 1894–5 McPhail and Brace's results (3) and observations of treatment were published in detail. The publication of their results and their belief that “in thyroid feeding we possess a valuable addition to our armamentarium in the treatment of certain cases of insanity” incited many other alienists to test its efficacy. Besides Clarke, Brush and Burges in America must be mentioned Mabon and Babcock (4), who give a review of the results obtained in 1032 collected cases of insanity from twenty-four different observers, and who show that 23·9 per cent. recovered and 29·4 per cent. were improved. They also report on a further use of thyroid on sixty-one cases at the St. Lawrence State Hospital.