Thyroid heart disease

Abstract

The concept of thyrocardiac disease was introduced by Samuel Levine who described atrial arrhythmias, congestive cardiac failure, and cardiac enlargement in hyperthyroidism occurring even in the absence of overt evidence of thyroid disorder. His clinical decriptions are as pertinent today as when they were written but it has always been a matter for conjecture whether thyroid disease in any of its forms can produce either specific pathological changes in the heart or an identifiable cardiac syndrome. The consensus from published work indicates that thyrocardiac disease as such is a clinical entity. Probably too much emphasis has been given to alterations in cardiac rhythm, a phenomenon symptomatic of associated muscle excitability. This survey discusses some of the experimental and clinical aspects of thyrocardiac disease and shows that a spectrum of response exists which may have a bearing on the nature of cardiomyopathy itself.