Thyroid Disorders

Many of the reactions characterizing the various effects of operation on patients with hyperthyroidism resemble the responses which can be produced in such patients by the subcutaneous injection of epinephrine hydrochloride. As a result of clinical studies made during the past year, which are reported here, the belief seems warranted that the suprarenal glands play an important role in the clinical manifestations exhibited by patients with hyperthyroidism before and during thyroidectomy. Cannon and his associates 1 showed by physiologic experiments that the secretion of the thyroid and the active iodine-containing compound isolated from the thyroid gland by Kendall lb sensitized the sympathetic nervous system to the action of epinephrine. These researches explain the increased sensitiveness to epinephrine exhibited by patients suffering with hyperthyroidism and form the basis of the epinephrine test (E. G. 2 ). Long experience in observing the responses produced by the subcutaneous administration of epinephrine hydrochloride in patients