Abrupt onset of muscle dysfunction after treatment for Grave's disease: a case report.

Myopathy is a known complication of hypothyroidism, commonly characterized by an elevation in Creatine Kinase (CPK) due to increase capillary permeability proportional to the hypothyroid state. Thyroid hormone is important for the expression of fast myofibrillar proteins in the muscle. In hypothyroidism the expression of these proteins are deficient and there is an increase accumulation of slow myofibrillar proteins. A rapid or abrupt descend in thyroid hormones caused by radioiodine therapy after prolonged hyperthyroidism can lead to local hypothyroid state within the muscle tissue, resulting in CPK elevation and hypothyroid myopathy. Hormone replacement leads to resolution of symptoms and normalization of muscle enzymes serum levels.

Young female with acromegaloid features and pituitary macroadenoma: what is your diagnosis?

Pseudoacromegaly is a extremely rare condition previously described and characterized by acromegaloid changes, tissue overgrowth, without elevations in insulin-like growth factor or growth hormone as seen in Acromegaly. We present the case of a young female seen initially with acromegaloid features and a pituitary microadenoma. After work-up the patient was diagnosed as insulin-mediated pseudoacromegaly. Only a few cases of pseudoacromegaly has been reported and should always be considered when evaluating patients for acromegaloid features with negative biochemical and hormonal levels.

Rapidly growing thyroid mass in an immunocompromised young male adult.

We describe a 20-year-old man diagnosed with a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), admitted to our hospital due to pancytopenia and fever of undetermined origin after myelosuppression with chemotherapy. Disseminated aspergillosis (DIA) was suspected when he developed skin and lung involvement. A rapidly growing mass was detected on the left neck area, during hospitalization. A thyroid ultrasound reported a 3.7 × 2.5 × 2.9 cm oval heterogeneous structure, suggestive of an abscess versus a hematoma. Fine needle aspiration of the thyroid revealed invasion of aspergillosis. Fungal thyroiditis is a rare occurrence. Thyroid fungal infection is difficult to diagnose; for this reason it is rarely diagnosed antemortem. To our knowledge, this is the 10th case reported in the literature in an adult where the diagnosis of fungal invasion to the thyroid was able to be corroborated antemortem by fine needle aspiration biopsy.

The cardiology and endocrinology connection between amiodarone and thyrotoxicosis: case report and review of the literature.

Amiodarone is used in a large number of cardiac conditions. Amiodarone-induced thyroid dysfunction has been reported to affect up to 20% of users. Amiodarone can lead to both amiodarone-induced hypothyroidism (AIH) and less commonly amiodarone-induced thyrotoxicosis (AIT). There are two main forms of AIT. Type 1 AIT, a form of io-dine-induced hyperthyroidism, and type 2, a drug-induced destructive thyroiditis. Type 1 AIT develops on individuals with underlying thyroid disease. Treatment of Type 1 AIT includes the use of antithyroid drugs and discontinuation of amiodarone. Type 2 AIT is commonly self-limiting in nature. In this article wedescribe a patient with Amiodarone-induced thyrotoxicosis discussing its clinical features and medical therapeutic approach.

Hashimoto's encephalopathy: an underdiagnosed clinical entity.

Hashimoto's encephalopathy (HE) is a rarely recognized neurocognitive syndrome that is associated with thyroid autoimmunity. It is more common in women. HE is diagnosed when patients present with nonspecific neurological symptoms associated to elevated titers of antithyroid antibodies and normal or abnormal thyroid function tests. Other neurologic disorders must be ruled out before diagnosis can be established. HE is associated to nonspecific EEG abnormalities as well as elevated cerebrospinal fluid proteins and nonspecific white matter changes. The pathophysiology of HE is unknown but an autoimmune etiology is strongly supported. HE responds to corticosteroids and immunosuppressive therapy, further supporting an autoimmune etiology. A high index of clinical suspicion must be present in order to promptly recognize and treat this disease.

Clinical and thyroid ultrasound evaluation in an asymptomatic adult Puerto Rican population: The San Juan city hospital experience Coromoto A. Pale.

OBJECTIVES: to determine the prevalence of thyroid disease in an asymptomatic Puerto Rican adult population within an iodine sufficient area. Correlate the clinical thyroic features during palpation with thyroid sonographic findings. Relate gender, laboratory data, and family history with the presence or absence of thyroid pathology. METHODS: Cross-sectional, descriptive, comparative study performed during the period of February 2008-January 2009 in an asymptomatic Puerto Rican copulation. The study sample size consisted of 110 adult participants, employees of the San Juan City Hospital in apparent good health. A questionnaire emphasizing relevant personal and family thyroid pathology (benign and malignant) was obtained. A complete physical examination was performed emphasizing thyroid gland palpation, utilizing a posterior approach. for detection of any abnormal thyroid features. All participants underwent thyroid ultrasonographic (US) examination and blood sampling for ultrasensitive TSH and antiperoxidase antibodies. Subjects with thyroid nodules over one centimeter, found on thyroid US, were encouraged to undergo fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB). RESULTS: The prevalence of thyroid pathology detected by palpation was 52.72% and 38.23% by US. The most frequent thyroid pathology found on palpation was goiter (41.37%) and multinodular goiter (64.85%). Twenty-four percent (24%) of the participants with normal findings on palpation had abnormal findings by US and 33.33% of those met criteria for FNAB. In sixteen patients with abnormal US, only six agreed to have FNAB, all were reported negative for malignancy. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that routine thyroid US should be seriously considered for all patients with suspected thyroid disease. Statistical analysis demonstrated a significant correlation between palpation findings performed by an experience physician and thyroid ultrasonography results. Even in patients with negative family history of thyroid pathology, abnormal thyroid ultrasound abnormalities were detected in 35.73%. To our knowledge this is the first study done in Puerto Rico, comparing thyroid palpation and ultrasonographic findings.