Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0011168 (dysphagia)
 15,644 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Thyroid disease in the elderly can be easily overlooked. Symptoms too often are explained away as normal processes of aging. Development of unstable illness, especially cardiac disease, is a frequent mode of presentation. One symptom or one clinical feature of thyroid disease in the elderly may be overwhelming in its presentation, as in apathetic hyperthyroidism, thyroid myopathy, depression and dementia. Physical examination of the thyroid gland can be helpful but in a high percentage of older patients the gland is normal to palpation. The treatment of hypothyroidism is straightforward. Only myxedema coma requires large doses of levothyroxine parenterally; all other forms of hypothyroidism are treated with oral levothyroxine. The dose is started very low and increased gradually over months. The euthyroid state is achieved gradually and safely. Hyperthyroidism can be treated by several modalities. In the unstable elderly patient, antithyroid medication can quickly produce a euthyroid state. When the patient is stable, further decisions can be made regarding definitive therapy. Radioactive iodine therapy is well-tolerated and effective. On occasion, a second course of therapy is needed to suppress hyperthyroidism. Close follow-up of all patients ever having received this therapy is needed to identify the development of hypothyroidism. Surgical thyroid ablation may be necessary in patients who fail to respond to radioactive iodine therapy. Abnormalities associated with unresolved thyromegaly, dysphagia, or tracheal compression may require surgical intervention. If suspicion exists that the gland is cancerous, surgical intervention is warranted.
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PMID:Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism in the elderly. 158 94

In a 49-year-old woman carcinoma planoepithelialie akeratodes of the right vocal cord was diagnosed. The lesion was removed with the Kleinasser's microsurgery procedure. During telecobaltotherapy, temporary oedema of the face and the neck as well as dysphagia appeared. Myxoedema due to insufficiency of the thyroid was diagnosed after four months since the end of the radiotherapy. Substitutional treatment resulted in the hormonal and clinical improvement of the patient.
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PMID:[Myxoedema after radiotherapy of the laryngeal cancer]. 976 Jul 82

Thyroid disease is common, and its effects on the gastrointestinal system are protean, affecting most hollow organs. Hashimoto disease, the most common cause of hypothyroidism, may be associated with an esophageal motility disorder presenting as dysphagia or heartburn. Dyspepsia, nausea, or vomiting may be due to delayed gastric emptying. Abdominal discomfort, flatulence, and bloating occur in those with bacterial overgrowth and improve with antibiotics. Reduced acid production may be due to autoimmune gastritis or low gastrin levels. Constipation may result from diminished motility, leading to an ileus, megacolon, or rarely pseudoobstruction. Ascites in myxedema is characterized by a high protein concentration. Graves' disease accounts for 60% to 80% of thyrotoxicosis. Hyperthyroidism is accompanied by normal gastric emptying with low acid production, partly due to an autoimmune gastritis with hypergastrinemia. Transit time from mouth to cecum is accelerated, resulting in diarrhea. Steatorrhea is due to hyperphagia and stimulation of the adrenergic system. Diarrhea in medullary carcinoma of the thyroid (MCT) may be due to elevated calcitonin, prostaglandins, or 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid. Ileal or colonic function may be abnormal. The esophagus may be compressed by benign processes, but more often by malignancies. MRI and CT scans are the best diagnostic modalities. The gastrointestinal manifestations of thyroid disease are generally due to reduced motility in hypothyroidism, increased motility in hyperthyroidism, autoimmune gastritis, or esophageal compression by a thyroid process. Symptoms usually resolve with treatment of the thyroid disease.
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PMID:The thyroid and the gut. 2035 69

Human size and shape vary widely. Relative obesity or apparent under nutrition may not limit survival into old age. Normal body appearance can mask gross malnutrition, particularly mineral and vitamin deficiency, problems of measurement in the elderly. Obesity is associated with joint degeneration and systemic disease but with reduced incidence of fractures. Undenutrition is associated with skin breakdown, poor wound healing and fractures. Body composition changes due to disease include dysphagia, myxoedema, anaemia, chronic cardiac and renal disease. Skeletal changes include osteoporosis and Paget's disease. Body composition can change due to treatment, control of dietary energy intake and tube-feeding.
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PMID:Body composition and aging: a practising clinician's point of view. 2439 52

Graves' disease is an autoimmune disease, which can manifest with a variety of extrathyroidal clinical syndromes like ophthalmopathy, pretibial myxedema (dermopathy), acropathy, cardiomyopathy, and encephalopathy. Though quite rare, this disease can also manifest with gastrointestinal symptoms such as dysphagia, heartburn, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. We report a clinical case of Graves' disease manifesting with dysfunction of the esophagus and heartburn in a 61-year-old man. In the muscular layer of the esophagus we found dystrophic changes led to its atony, which was documented by endoscopy and high-resolution manometry. The pathology features of esophageal symptoms were: focal proliferation of the basal cells, vascular distension, and dystrophy of the epithelial cells. Antithyroid treatment led to decrease of all clinical symptoms after 5 d of Thiamazole administration. Complete restoration of peristalsis in the esophagus, according to manometry, was observed in 1 mo after initiation of treatment.
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PMID:Case report of Graves' disease manifesting with odynophagia and heartburn. 2673 Jan 71