Thyroid function tests in patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation.

Thyroid function was studied prospectively in 27 patients receiving bone marrow transplants to determine the effect of this procedure and its sequelae on serum thyroid hormone levels and thyrotropin secretion. Serum triiodothyronine and free triiodothyronine concentrations declined to subnormal levels in nearly all of the patients; free thyroxine concentration became subnormal in 15 patients. At the time of the nadir of the serum T3 concentration, serum thyrotropin concentration, measured by a sensitive immunoradiometric assay, declined significantly and became subnormal in nine patients. The data suggest that the reduction of serum thyroxine levels after transplantation is attributable, at least in part, to inhibition of thyrotropin secretion.