KLINISCHE BEURTEILUNG EINER NEUEN METHODE ZUR BESTIMMUNG DES SERUM-TRIJODTHYRONINS

Abstract

ABSTRACT An assay of stable 3,5,3′-triiodo-L-thyronine (T3) in serum of 54 patients was performed, using a new simple chromatographic procedure. With samples of 5 ml serum, the lower detection limit was 0.04 μg/100 ml. The total time required for a complete analysis was less than 3 hours, which was accomplished by partial automatization of the procedure. The range of the T3-concentration was 0.22 ± 0.05 (sd) μg/100 ml in 18 normal subjects, 0.67 ± 0.3 in 15 thyrotoxic patients and 0.08 ± 0.04 in 8 patients with hypothyroidism. Among 13 patients with normal serum thyroxine (T4) levels after thyroid surgery owing to thyrotoxicosis, there were 3 with marked increases in serum T3. In spite of normal T4-levels, symptoms of hyperthyroidism were still present in these patients. It is concluded, that serum T3-determinations may be useful for diagnosing cases of hyperthyroidism where clinical findings do not correspond with serum T4 or PBI-findings.