An Analysis of the Relative Risk for Low Triiodothyronine Syndrome in Patients With Chronic Radiation Enteritis

May 21, 2015 updated by: Shengxian Fan

Radiation enteritis (RE) is by simple definition an inflammatory process occurring at the level of the intestines as a response to abdominal or pelvic radiation energy exposure. Due to the dosage of radiation, sensitivity of organs to radiation, and some patient characteristics, RE can present as either an acute or chronic syndrome. Clinical manifestations differ but may include abdominal pain, malabsorption, diarrhea, cachexia, intestinal bleeding, obstruction, and even perforation, which compromise quality of life. For many years, radiotherapy of the abdominal or pelvic region is commonly used for a significant percentage of patients with rectosigmoid and genitourinary system tumors. Different techniques have been developed to prevent the occurrence of radiation induced injury. However, the incidence of CRE is expected to continue to rise during the coming years. What's more, abdominal or pelvic radiotherapy can also lead to other side effects in addition to RE, such as skin desquamation, local soft tissue injury, and so on. Till now, lots of attention is only paid to local complications, there is little report on systemic damage of abdominal or pelvic radiotherapy.

Low triiodothyronine syndrome (LT3S), a condition characterized by low circulating triiodothyronine (T3) levels, normal thyroxine (T4), free thyroxine (FT4) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels in the absence of an intrinsic thyroid disease, is variously known as the "nonthyroidal illness syndrome (NTIS)". This condition is frequently detected in critical illness. Reichlin et al. first noticed that some aspects of thyroid hormone metabolism might change during many chronic illnesses as early as 1973. Data has shown that about 35-70% of acute and chronic critical conditions were associated with a significant abnormal thyroid hormone metabolism, of which LT3S was the most common type. Furthermore, these changes have been shown to be associated with disease severity and have been connected with poor short-term prognosis.

To date, there are lots of literatures include detailed reports on the relationship between LT3S and chronic illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, sepsis, and so on. However, no systematic analysis of LT3S in patients with CRE has been undertaken. As such, the present study aimed to investigate the frequency of LT3S in CRE patients.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

48

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

patients and volunteers who were admitted to our hospital

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • patients with chronic radiation enteritis
  • patients with some kinds of malignant tumors but had not previously received radiotherapy
  • age-matched healthy volunteers

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with a chronic disease other than CRE, including RA, SLE, thyroid illness, infectious diseases, and hepatic or renal disorders were excluded.
  • patients have taken any drugs that may influence thyroid hormone secretion and metabolism during the previous 3 months.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
CRE group
patients with chronic radiation enteritis
Other: Thyroid function tests
malignancy group
patients with some kinds of malignant tumors but had not previously received radiotherapy
Other: Thyroid function tests
control group
age-matched healthy volunteers
Other: Thyroid function tests

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
morbidity
Time Frame: one year
The results will be expressed as percentage
one year

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Shengxian Fan

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

January 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 15, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 21, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

May 22, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 22, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 21, 2015

Last Verified

May 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • JinlingH

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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