Systolic time intervals in thyroid disease.

The systolic time intervals; total electro-mechanical systole (QS2), left ventricular ejection time (LVET), pre-ejection period (PEP), and ratio of PEP/LVET were measured from external readings in twenty hyperthyroid and fifteen hypothyroid patients. The hyperthyroid subjects showed shortening of the PEP and reduction in the PEP/LVET. The hypothyroid group showed lengthening of the PEP, shortening of the LVET and increased PEP/LVET. These changes returned towards normal in ten patients rendered euthyroid with appropriate therapy. The value of these measurements to predict the thyroid status was examined in a mixed group of seventy-four patients. There was close agreement between diagnosis predicted from systolic time intervals and that made independently from clinical and biochemical assessment, suggesting that the systolic time intervals may have been a useful place in the clinical assessment of thyroid patients.