Clinial value of the assay of basal TSH and the TSH level after stimulation with TRH in the exploration of the hypothalamo hypophyseo thyroid axis

The authors make a study of basal plasmatic TSH and, afterwards, stimulation with TRH in 7 healthy subjects, and in 53 patients affected with thyroid carcinoma (16), primary hypothyroidism (9), subtotal or total thyroidectomy (6), treatment with radioiodine (2), hypothalamus hypophysis pathology (8) and hyperthyroidism (12). The authors comment on the interest of the determination of basal TSH in the diagnosis of primary hypothyroidism and in the control of the substitutive treatment in this disease, and in thyroid carcinoma after thyroidectomy and treatment with I131. They also expound on the results and comment on the clinical interest of the stimulation test with TRH in the different forms of hypo and hyperthyroidism, after total or subtotal thyroidectomy or treatment with I131, and in patients with various hypothalamus hypophysis disorders.