The Probert Encyclopaedia of Medicine

LEVOTHYROXINE SODIUM

Levothyroxine sodium is a synthetic crystalline levothyroxine sodium (L-thyroxine). L-thyroxine is the principal hormone secreted by the normal thyroid gland. Chemically, L-thyroxine is designated as L-tyrosine, O- (4-hydroxy-3, 5-diiodophenyl) - 3,5-diiodo -, monosodium salt, hydrate. It is used in replacement or supplemental therapy in patients of any age or state (including pregnancy) with hypothyroidism of any aetiology except transient hypothyroidism during the recovery phase of sub- acute thyroiditis: primary hypothyroidism resulting from thyroid dysfunction, primary atrophy, or partial or total absence of the thyroid gland, or from the effects of surgery, radiation or drugs, with or without the presence of goitre, including sub-clinical hypothyroidism; secondary (pituitary) hypothyroidism; and tertiary (hypothalamic) hypothyroidism.
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