Comments(1)

Reversible hypothyroidism due to Whipple syndrome: may be not

Yair Liel   (22 May 2006)  Soroka University Mrdical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel

The arguments are somewhat speculative and the data is far from being compelling regarding the casual association between Whipple's and hypothyroidism.

An alternative -and more realistic, in my view- interpretation could be, that the patient had sub-clinical hypothyroidism or limited thyroid reserves (e.g. seronegative Hashimoto or post thyroiditis state) that became overt due to malabsorption and thyroid-hormone loss during entero-hepatic cycle and malabsorption of exogenous thyroxine (I would expect a comment on family history of thyroid disease, which I couldn't find). Once Whipple's and malabsorption subsided, she returned to her baseline status.

Competing interests

None

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