Coexisting Tertiary Hyperparathyroidism and Severe Hypothyroidism in an End-Stage Renal Disease Patient on Hemodialysis

The clinical syndrome of uremia is a bedside diagnosis which mimics a wide spectrum of other clinical disorders, most commonly thyroid disease. End-stage renal disease (ESRD), as a disorder, frequently alters thyroid hormone metabolism, and this is not significantly normalized by dialysis. Although the thyroid and parathyroid glands are considered independent organs, their anatomical juxtaposition in the neck, as well as sharing a common embryological origin, might play a role in some of the possible association between thyroid and parathyroid disease. It has been demonstrated in experimental animals that changes in the thyroid gland might lead to pathological changes in the parathyroids and vice versa. An incidence of as high as 25% of hypothyroidism has been reported in patients with ESRD on dialysis. We report a patient with ESRD on maintenance hemodialysis (MHDx) who has had a combination of profound tertiary hyperparathyroidism (HPTH) and severe hypothyroidism. Literature search revealed an increased prevalence of hypothyroidism with secondary HPTH from renal failure. Although there is increased prevalence of hypothyroid state in secondary HPTH from renal failure, the association appears much weaker in primary HPTH and again no conclusive pathological relation has been identified between the two endocrine glands. A closer look and perhaps long-term prospective studies are required in the future to determine this association.