triiodothyronine--reverse and Tachycardia--Ventricular

The relationship between cardiac function and serum thyroid hormone levels was investigated in 41 patients with chronic heart failure (25 men and 16 women, mean age 63.7 +/- 11.1 years) and 15 normal subjects (5 men and 10 women, mean age 55.5 +/- 12.2 years). Patients with apparent thyroid disease were excluded from the study. All patients were evaluated according to the New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification using echocardiography, cardiothoracic ratios, mean daily heart rates calculated from ambulatory electrocardiograms (ECG), and ventricular tachyarrhythmias greater than triplets based on either Holter or ECG monitoring. The serum free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4), and reverse triiodothyronine (rT3) levels were measured. Decreased FT3 levels and FT3/FT4 ratios, and increased rT3 levels were associated with worse NYHA class. FT3/FT4 was positively and rT3 was negatively correlated with echocardiographical fractional shortening. FT3 and rT3 were negatively and positively correlated with mean daily heart rates, in contrast to known hypothyroid patients. Patients with ventricular tachycardia demonstrated significantly lower serum values of FT3 and FT3/FT4, and significantly higher values of rT3. Serum thyroid hormone levels can provide a quantitative index for evaluating the severity of chronic heart failure and predicting ventricular tachycardia.

Topics: Echocardiography; Female; Heart; Heart Failure; Heart Rate; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Tachycardia, Ventricular; Thyroid Hormones; Thyroxine; Triiodothyronine; Triiodothyronine, Reverse