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Updated: May 16, 2025

Substernal Thyroid Biopsy Using Endobronchial Ultrasound-guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration
Published on: November 10, 2014
Most elderly patients with subclinical hypothyroidism do not need to be treated
Risheng Xu1, Nicola Abate2, Nalini Ram3
1CHI St. Luke's Health-The Vintage Hospital, Houston, TX; Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX risheng.xu@bcm.edu.
Abstract:
Whether subclinical hypothyroidism should be treated in elderly patients (≥ 65 years) is controversial. The authors argue for a personalized, wait-and-see approach rather than universal treatment, pointing out that randomized clinical trials have not shown that levothyroxine treatment makes any difference in terms of hard clinical end points, quality of life, or hypothyroid symptom relief in elderly patients with this condition.
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