Thyroid storm in a patient with fulminant hepatic failure.
This manuscript describes a 28-year-old patient with a history of Graves' disease who was transferred to Tulane University Hospital with fulminant hepatic failure. He reported associated nausea, vomiting, anorexia, as well as jaundice and abdominal discomfort for a period of 3 weeks prior to his admission. His thyroid function tests on admission were TSH, 0.013 μU/mL; T3, 94.9 μU/mL; T4, 9.37 μU/mL; Free T4, >6 μU/mL. His liver function tests were characteristic of hepatic failure. The patient underwent an emergent liver transplant. His surgery was complicated by heart failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Given the patients clinical presentation and laboratory results, a diagnosis of thyroid storm was made and a decision was made to proceed with an emergent thyroidectomy. The posttransplant multiorgan dysfunction was rapidly reversed by prompt thyroidectomy and decisive management. The patient was discharged from the hospital with normal thyroid and liver function tests.
Department of Surgery, Section of Endocrinology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. ekandil@tulane.edu
Emad
E
Kandil
Mohamed Abdel
MA
Khalek
Tina
T
Thethi
Zakaria
Z
Abd Elmageed
Amna
A
Khan
Bernard M
BM
Jaffe
D000328:Adult; D006111:Graves Disease / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D017114:Liver Failure, Acute / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008297:Male; D013958:Thyroid Crisis / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D013965:Thyroidectomy