Wada A, Suzuki Y, Midorikawa S, Takeuchi S, Kunii Y, Yabe H, Niwa SI. Thyroid-stimulating hormone elevation misdiagnosed as subclinical hypothyroidism following non-convulsive status epilepticus: a case report.
J Med Case Rep 2011;
5:432. [PMID:
21892965 PMCID:
PMC3179759 DOI:
10.1186/1752-1947-5-432]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2011] [Accepted: 09/05/2011] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction
Non-convulsive status epilepticus is a form of epileptic seizure that occurs without convulsions. Recent reviews suggest that the diagnosis of non-convulsive status epilepticus remains difficult. Here, we report the case of a patient with thyroid-stimulating hormone elevation misdiagnosed as subclinical hypothyroidism following non-convulsive status epilepticus.
Case presentation
Our patient was a 68-year-old Japanese woman. The results of endocrine testing after her first episode of non-convulsive status epilepticus suggested latent subclinical hypothyroidism: she had elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone with normal levels of free tri-iodothyronine and free thyroxine. On examination, a diagnosis of thyroid disorder was not supported by other test results and our patient remained untreated. A follow-up examination revealed that her thyroid-stimulating hormone levels had spontaneously normalized. When she consulted another doctor for confusion, the transient increase in thyroid-stimulating hormone levels following non-convulsive status epilepticus was mistaken for subclinical hypothyroidism, and unfortunately treated with levothyroxine. Our patient then experienced levothyroxine-induced non-convulsive status epilepticus.
Conclusions
In this report, we suggested possible mechanisms for latent hypothyroid-like hormone abnormality following epileptic seizures and the possibility of provoking epileptic seizures by administering levothyroxine for misdiagnosed subclinical hypothyroidism.
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