Is Levothyroxine Alone Adequate Thyroid Hormone Replacement?
Status:
Recruiting
Trial end date:
2025-06-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Patients taking thyroid hormone replacement after thyroid removal surgery often report
feeling differently than they did prior to taking thyroid hormone. The symptoms can include
fatigue, worsening mood or subjective "brain fog" where the patient feels like their thinking
is just not as sharp as it was previously. Multiple studies have found that patients taking
thyroid hormone replacement have a diminished quality of life compared to matched controls.
Previous studies have suggested that the type of deiodinase (DIO) polymorphism a patient has,
which is responsible for converting the thyroid hormone T4 into the more biologically active
T3, may contribute to their overall cognition and sense of well-being. The Investigators aim
to determine if the type of deiodinase polymorphism a patient has contributes to the
patient's cognition and overall sense of well-being after surgery and thyroid hormone
replacement.
Objective: Determine if patients with the deiodinase type 2 CC polymorphism have objective
differences in working memory (N-back test is primary endpoint), cognitive function and sense
of well-being after thyroidectomy when placed on standard thyroid hormone replacement
therapy.
Hypotheses: (1) Patients with the deiodinase type 2 CC polymorphism will have worse working
memory (N-back test is primary endpoint), cognitive function and sense of well-being on
standard thyroid hormone replacement therapy after thyroidectomy compared with before
thyroidectomy.
(2) Patients with the deiodinase type 2 TT or TC polymorphism will have no differences in
working memory, cognitive function or sense of well-being on standard thyroid hormone
replacement before and after thyroidectomy.