Yousef Altayyeb, Clark Justin, Doi Suhail A R
Department of Medicine, Mubarak Al-Kabeer Teaching Hospital, Kuwait.
Clin Med Res. 2010 Dec;8(3-4):150-8. doi: 10.3121/cmr.2010.881. Epub 2010 Aug 25.
Levothyroxine (LT4) suppressive therapy for solitary thyroid nodules is not popularly advocated presently because its clinical efficacy and safety are currently considered controversial. This meta-analysis aims to address efficacy issues by using rigorous methods to arrive at a pooled estimate. On the basis of the analysis, it is estimated that LT4 therapy is clearly associated with up to a two-fold increase in the chance of nodule reduction. This translates to a number needed to treat (NNT) of 6 or a 50% decrease in the risk of cancer given nodule reduction. Keeping this definition of efficacy in mind and a low incidence of adverse events with low level LT4 suppression, such an intervention might be appropriate in patients selected on the basis of a low risk for adverse effects.
目前,左甲状腺素(LT4)抑制疗法用于治疗孤立性甲状腺结节并不被广泛提倡,因为其临床疗效和安全性目前存在争议。这项荟萃分析旨在通过严谨的方法得出汇总估计值,以解决疗效问题。基于该分析,估计LT4疗法与结节缩小几率增加高达两倍明显相关。这意味着治疗所需人数(NNT)为6,或者在结节缩小的情况下癌症风险降低50%。牢记这种疗效定义以及低剂量LT4抑制时不良事件发生率较低的情况,对于根据不良反应低风险选择的患者,这种干预可能是合适的。