Are we overusing thyroid function tests?

Are we overusing ultrasound in non-traumatic acute abdominal pain?

BACKGROUND Ultrasound is being used increasingly in the assessment of acute non-traumatic abdominal pain as it is non-invasive and does not carry the risk of radiation. However, the inappropriate use of ultrasound can lead to a delayed or incorrect diagnosis, more work for the personnel involved, and increased hospital costs. METHODS A prospective study was conducted to analyse the clinical i...

Are we overusing the diagnosis of psychogenic non-epileptic events?

In order to determine how often results of video/EEG (V-EEG) studies may change the clinical diagnosis of paroxysmal events, we prospectively studied 100 consecutive patients (75 females, 25 males) admitted for diagnosis of recurrent paroxysmal spells. The presumed diagnosis of the referring physician was obtained. Episodes were classified as epileptic seizures (ES), psychogenic non-epileptic e...

How Are Thyroid Function Tests Altered by Thyroid Replacement Medications?

Thyroid function tests.

atrial fibrillation or osteoporosis and makes the illogical extrapolation that a patient given a dose of thyroxine that suppresses or brings the serum thyroxine concentration to higher than the reference range is receiving too much replacement. It is excusable for doctors to believe that if the serum thyroxine concentration is higher than the so-called normal range that the dose of thyroxine sh...

Thyroid function tests: a review.

In this paper, we review the tests that are executed to aid the diagnosis of thyroid dysfunction. Thyroid function tests provide information at physiological, pathological and anatomical levels. Along with history and physical examination they owe to many specific findings that are associated with thyroid functioning. So an attempt has been made to put forward a gist of thyroid function tests. ...