New Consensus on Combination Therapy to Treat Hypothyroidism

— From the publisher’s press release:
New Rochelle, NY, February 18, 2021—Combination therapy with levothyroxine (LT4) and liothyronine (LT3) is widely used to treat hypothyroidism despite clinical trial results not showing a consistent benefit. A new consensus statement, which presents evidence to support the use of LT4/LT3 combinations and to guide future clinical trial development, is co-published in Thyroid^®, the official journal of the American Thyroid Association^® (ATA^®), and the European Thyroid Journal. Click here to read the statement now.
The consensus statement presents joint guidelines from the American Thyroid Association (ATA), British Thyroid Association (BTA), and European Thyroid Association (ETA). It is based on a review of new basic science and clinical evidence regarding combination therapy. Consensus statements were generated regarding the design of future clinical trials of combination therapy.
“We believe that there is equipoise for a new well-designed, adequately powered clinical trial of combination therapy,” stated Jacqueline Jonklaas, MD, PhD, Georgetown University, and coauthors. “Furthermore, patients and physicians have demonstrated an urgent, strong interest in addressing the clinical problem of patients’ dissatisfaction with the existing standard of care for thyroid hormone therapy.”
“This joint statement on combination T3/T4 treatment for hypothyroidism is an important publication that defines the current status of evidence and what gaps in knowledge need to be addressed in the future,” says Electron Kebebew, MD, FACS, Editor-in-Chief ofThyroid, Professor of Surgery, Chief, Division of General Surgery, Harry A. Oberhelman and Mark L. Welton Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine (Stanford, CA).