American Thyroid Association Spring Symposium and Research Summit 2013
Treatment of Hypothyroidism: Exploring the Possibilities
Levothyroxine has been considered the standard of care for treatment of hypothyroidism for many years. This treatment is easy to administer, efficacious, has a long serum half-life, and results in resolution of the sign and symptoms of hypothyroidism in the majority of patients. However, a proportion of patients being treated for hypothyroidism do not feel that they have been returned to optimum health by their therapy. The purpose of this meeting is to re-examine the evidence concerning alternatives therapies other than levothyroxine, to discuss gaps in our current knowledge of these therapies, and to determine whether new data provides reason to pursue these therapies.
Recent advances in our understanding of the thyroid physiology will be the focus of the basic science component of our program. Featured topics will include the sources and regulation of T3 within specific tissues, advances in measuring T3, and the regulation of TSH by T3 (see description of basic science program).
The clinical day of the conference will review the goals of levothyroxine therapy and examine sources of dissatisfaction with levothyroxine therapy. The latest data regarding combination therapy, T3 monotherapy, compounded thyroid hormones, nutraceuticals, and thyroid hormone analogs will be presented. Pharmacology and regulatory aspects of these therapies will be discussed. The potential for genetic variations to influence the ability to optimize thyroid hormone therapy will be explored. The challenges of titrating thyroid hormone therapy in specific groups such as the pediatric, pregnant, and elderly populations will be considered.
We hope that the 2013 Research Summit and Spring Symposium will help translate the latest basic and clinical research in thyroid hormone metabolism, transport, and action into recommendations for clinicians managing hypothyroid patients by exploring both the role of traditional thyroid hormone replacement therapy and alternatives to the use of levothyroxine alone.
