title: Congenital hypothyroidism in a kitten resulting in decreased IGF-I concentration and abnormal liver function tests.
abstract: A 7-month-old male kitten was presented with chronic constipation and retarded growth. Clinical examination revealed disproportional dwarfism with mild skeletal abnormalities and a palpable thyroid gland. The presumptive diagnosis of congenital hypothyroidism was confirmed by low serum total thyroxine (tT(4)) concentration prior to and after the administration of thyroid stimulation hormone (TSH), increased endogenous TSH concentration and abnormal thyroid scintigraphic scan. The kitten had abnormal liver function tests and decreased insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) concentration, both of which returned to normal in correspondence with an improvement of the clinical signs after 6 weeks of thyroxine therapy. Congenital hypothyroidism is a rare disease that may present with considerable variation in clinical manifestation. In cases in which clinical signs are ambiguous, disorders such as portosystemic shunt and hyposomatotropism have to be taken into account as differential diagnosis. As hypothyroidism may be associated with abnormal liver function tests and low IGF-1 concentrations, test results have to be interpreted carefully.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Small Animal Internal Medicine, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Saskia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Quante
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fracassi
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gorgas
authors.forename: Patrick R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Kircher
authors.forename: Felicitas S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Boretti
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohlerth
authors.forename: Claudia E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Reusch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000151:congenital* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D002415:Cats; D003409:Congenital Hypothyroidism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000662:veterinary*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000032:analysis*; D008111:Liver Function Tests / Q000662:veterinary; D008297:Male; D013557:Switzerland; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000097:blood; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D013972:Thyrotropin; D013974:Thyroxine