Purpose: To detect the cardiac manifestations due to the state of hypothyroidism and reversibility after euthyroidism.
Patients and methods: Thirteen patients with documented primary hypothyroidism were evaluated through the echocardiography and other noninvasive techniques. A new evaluation was performed six months after thyroid hormone therapy.
Results: Most of the changes were reversed after the patients became euthyroid. The main finding was the echocardiographic measurement of the velocity of circumferential fiber shortening that showed a significant positive linear correlation with serum thyroid hormones.
Conclusion: These data demonstrate the existence of a hypothyroid cardiomyopathy.