Changes of triiodothyronine and thyroxine in patients with thyrocardiac disease and their relationship to systolic time intervals.

The relationship between the ejection time from the left ventricle (LVET), the pre-ejection period (PEP) of the left ventricle, the Q-Kd interval, the course of the Achilles tendon reflex (ATR) and the thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) serum level in 184 patients with different grades of thyroid function was investigated. Some of these patients suffered from cardiac affection caused by thyrotoxicosis or ischemic heart disease. The significant inverse correlations between the T3 level and the duration of PEP, LVET, the Q-Kd interval and the ATR was revealed. An inverse relationship with T4 level was found only in the Q-Kd interval and ATR. In those instances, where there was a correlation with T4 and T3, higher values of correlation coefficients were observed in the correlation with T3. T4 concentration was higher in patients with cardiac affection. In thyrocardiacs was an increase in the quotient T4:T3, while in thyrotoxic patients without cardiac affection this quotient was rather decreased. The significance of disturbed T4 metabolism in development of cardiac affection in thyrotoxicosis is discussed with respect to ageing processes.