Clinical endocrinology
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Clinical endocrinology · Dec 1995
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialCardiovascular and metabolic responses to adrenaline infusion in patients with short-term hypothyroidism.
The relation between the clinical manifestations of thyroid disease (both hypo and hyper-thyroidism) and tissue sensitivity to catecholamines remains uncertain. It has been suggested that tissue adrenergic responsiveness is decreased in hypothyroidism, but the reports have been conflicting and have invariably focused on a single physiological response. Therefore the aim of the present study was to determine in patients with moderate, short-term, symptomatic hypothyroidism the responses of heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, forearm blood flow and metabolic rate to adrenaline infused at a rate known to achieve plasma concentrations in the middle of the physiological range. ⋯ Patients with short-term hypothyroidism appear to have a normal response to adrenaline infusion despite reduced baseline heart rate and metabolic rate. Thus, under physiological and mild pathophysiological conditions there appears to be no evidence of any synergy between thyroid status and sensitivity to catecholamines.