Nephrotic Syndrome as a Cause of Transient Clinical Hypothyroidism

• Autor(a) principal: Benido Silva, Vânia
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Pereira, Maria Teresa, Leal Moreira, Carla, Santos Monteiro, Sílvia, Inácio, Isabel, Cardoso, Helena
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.16/2847

Nephrotic syndrome may trigger the onset of hypothyroidism, promoting massive urinary protein losses including thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) along with their binding proteins. At an early stage, a clinical and biochemical euthyroid state is expected. However, in patients with prolonged and severe proteinuria, especially with concomitant low thyroid reserve, urinary losses of free and protein-bound thyroid hormones are sufficiently pronounced to induce a subclinical or overt hypothyroidism. Despite its high prevalence in clinical practice, the literature lacks case reports of newly diagnosed clinical hypothyroidism due to NS in adults, making this condition under-recognized. We report a case of a 23-year-old man with previous normal thyroid function who developed overt hypothyroidism due to a severe nephrotic syndrome, requiring supplementation with levothyroxine (LT). After the patient had undergone bilateral nephrectomy, treatment with LT was discontinued and thyroid function normalized.