SUMMARY Total and free serum thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), basal serum thyrotrophin (TSH) and the serum TSH response to a standard intravenous dose of thyrotrophin releasing hormone (TRH) have been measured in fifteen men with liver cirrhosis and in eight alcoholic men with fatty liver change. All the patients studied were clinically euthyroid. In cirrhotics, total T4 and free T4 (FT4) concentrations were normal as were free T3 (FT3) concentrations but total T3 concentrations were significantly reduced and basal TSH concentrations were significantly higher than normal. Alcoholics with fatty liver change had normal basal TSH concentrations and normal total and free thyroid hormone concentrations apart from reduced FT4. Correlation of thyroid function tests with liver function (serum albumin concentration) showed significant positive correlations for serum albumin with both total T3 and FT3 and significant negative correlations with both FT4 and basal TSH. Nine of fifteen cirrhotics had an abnormal serum TSH response to TRH, the commonest abnormal pattern being a delayed response (seven patients). Three of eight alcoholics with fatty liver change also had an abnormal TSH response to TRH. These findings not only show complex disturbances in hypothalamic‐pituitary‐thyroid relationships in chronic liver disease but also provide indirect evidence of reduced extra‐thyroidal conversion of T4 to T3.

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