Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Comparing TRH and TSH tests for thyroid problems in dogs
By Frank, L A·Published in Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association·1996·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Comparison of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) to thyrotropin (TSH) stimulation for evaluating thyroid function in dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with skin problems that might be due to low thyroid hormone levels were tested to see how well two different stimulation tests (TRH and TSH) could identify hypothyroidism. The results showed that the TRH test was not effective, as it failed to accurately identify dogs with low thyroid function. In fact, some healthy dogs had confusing results with the TRH test. However, the TSH test successfully diagnosed six dogs with hypothyroidism, and they improved after starting thyroid hormone replacement therapy.
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Abstract
Five normal dogs and 22 dogs with dermatological signs suggestive of hypothyroidism were evaluated using thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) and thyrotropin (TSH) stimulation. Thyroxine (T4) concentration after TRH stimulation was significantly lower than that obtained by TSH stimulation. It was not possible to identify hypothyroid dogs with the TRH-stimulation test, because some euthyroid dogs had either decreases in T4 or only slight increases in T4 concentrations after TRH stimulation. In addition, dogs with pyoderma had decreased responses in serum T4 after TRH stimulation, which became normal following treatment with antibiotics. Six of the 22 dogs were diagnosed as hypothyroid based on TSH results and responses to thyroid hormone replacement. It was concluded that TRH stimulation is not a useful means of diagnosing hypothyroidism in dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8906724/