Levothryoxine Versus Dessicated Bovine Thyroid (Armour Thyroid) Treatment in Hypothyroidism
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: The standard treatment of hypothyroidism is with levothyroxine (LT4).In the humans, the LT4 activates T4 to triiodothyronine (T3).However, there is a reported evidence that desiccated bovine thyroid (Armour Thyroid) is a better option as it has fewer side effects, though T3 is not fully reinstated in LT4-treated patients.On the other hand, desiccated thyroid extract (DTE) is a form of combination therapy in which the LT4/LT3 ratio is 4:1; the mean daily dose of DTE required to standardize serum TSH contains 11 mcg T3, but some patients may require higher doses.DTE does not have formal oversight by the FDA and reliability of T4 and T3 contents is supervised only by the manufacturers (T et al., 2020).The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the efficacy of levothyroxine and comparison to DTE to guide the treatment of a 42year-old female diagnosed with hypothyroidism.Currently, levothyroxine is a drug of choice in managing hypothyroidism.However, research will be reviewed to determine whether this intervention is the better choice or considerations should be made to switch to DTE.Finding suggest levothyroxine monotherapy itself has proven to manage hypothyroidism while there is no significant effect in adding DTE in management of hypothyroidism.
Author: Christine Zaki
Language: English
Subfield: Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3034036872