Too many patients, as documented in an on-line study of 12,000 individuals conducted by the American Thyroid Association published in June 2018, (https://doi.org/10.1089/thy.2017.0681) , complain of persistent symptoms of hypothyroidism despite what their doctors believe is successful treatment with levothyroxine (brands include Synthroid, Unithroid, Tirosent, Levoxl). We believe something needs to be done to resolve this conflict between patients and their doctors.
What is DTE Therapy?
DTE stands for “desiccated thyroid extract” which is made up of thyroid hormones refined from pig thyroid and used to treat people with hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormone). This is possible because human and pig thyroid are very similar in the types of thyroid hormone they contain. For over 100 years, DTE had been used successfully to treat hypothyroidism.
T4, also known as levothyroxine, is the most abundant of the 4 thyroid hormones and synthetic levothyroxine has almost completely replaced DTE treatment since the 1980’s. There is no scientific evidence however, that synthetic T4 is better than DTE for treating hypothyroidism. The almost universal switch to levothyroxine and away from DTE appears to be due to a shrewd worldwide marketing campaign by the makers of brand synthetic T4.
Due to this marketing, Synthroid, the major brand of synthetic T4, became the most widely prescribed medication in the U.S. Only in recent years has the medical community begun to recognize the benefit of using DTE treatment for individuals suffering with persistent symptoms of hypothyroidism, despite what appears to be satisfactory amounts of thyroid hormone replacement with T4. Could this benefit be due to the higher concentration of the active thyroid hormone, T3 (liothyronine) , provided by DTE compared to T4? This is the subject of on-going studies by medical scientists at this time.
