Total Thyroidectomy for Intractable Heart Disease

It is now approximately two and a half years since total ablation of the normal thyroid gland was first successfully performed for the relief of chronic intractable heart disease at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston.1The results obtained in ninety patients who have been submitted to this operative procedure indicate that this surgical therapeutic measure has a definite place in the treatment of chronic intractable heart disease.2A brief review of our experience will be outlined in this communication. RATIONALE The original researches on the velocity of blood flow by Blumgart and his co-workers3demonstrated that an intimate relationship existed between tissue demands as expressed by the basal metabolic rate and the speed of blood flow. As the demands of tissue metabolism mounted, the rate of blood flow was proportionately increased. With the metabolism depressed, as in myxedema, the velocity of blood flow was correspondingly reduced.