The Value of a Single Injection of Thyrotropin in the Diagnosis of Obscure Hypothyroidism

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Abstract
ALTHOUGH full-blown myxedema is readily diagnosed, there are many persons in whom a question of hypothyroidism arises, but the clinical picture and customary tests of thyroid function are not sufficiently characteristic to establish a diagnosis. This is particularly true of patients who have been taking thyroid, for in them not only are laboratory tests obscured by the effects of the medication, but also withdrawal of the drug may be followed by a period of hypoactivity of the gland even though function may have been normal before therapy. The establishment of a diagnosis in such cases may require a prolonged period . . .