It is widely accepted that thyroid hormone replacement for patients with hypothyroidism can be fully accomplished with levothyroxine monotherapy, as assessed by serum thyroid function tests. However, approximately 10% of hypothyroid patients are dissatisfied with the outcome of levothyroxine monotherapy, and physicians continue to report benefits from combined levothyroxine-triidothyronine therapy for some hypothyroid patients. Recently, a large prospective study reported that the benefit of the combined levothyroxine-triidothyronine therapy is associated with the Thr92Ala polymorphism in the type 2 deiodinase gene, which is present in about 15% of the general population. If confirmed, these findings indicate that personalized medicine is rapidly catching up with modern thyroidology.
New insights into thyroid hormone replacement therapy.
Brenda M Acosta and Antonio C Bianco. F1000 Medicine Reports. May, 2010. December 2011; doi:10.3410/M2-34