Hi, everyone.

This is the Am Basic podcast, and I'm Steve Carroll.

This episode is a long overdue look at thyroid emergencies in the ED.

Today's script was written by Dr. Patrick N.G., one of my former residents in San Antonio,

who is now in his last year of training, and the episode was recorded by Jacob Shriner,

a third-year medical student at Emory University School of Medicine.

Thyroid emergencies are relatively rare in the ED, but they can result in a really sick patient,

so it's important that we rapidly recognize when this could be a thyroid emergency,

run the right tests to properly diagnose the patient, and give the appropriate treatment.

So let's get to it.

This is Thyroid Emergencies by Dr. Patrick NG.

Hey and welcome back to EM Basic.

My name is Jake Shreiner and I'm an M2 working with Dr. Carroll.

So today's discussion is going to be on thyroid emergencies, which are rare, but they're

important because they have to be promptly diagnosed and treated to prevent significant

morbidity and mortality.

The outline for today's podcast is we're going to start with a brief overview of the thyroid

gland and thyroid hormones.

Then we're going to move on to mixedema coma, which is a thyroid emergency that's an extreme presentation of hypothyroidism.

Next, we'll discuss the other side of the spectrum, thyroid storm, which is an emergency involving an extreme presentation of thyroid toxicosis.

The thyroid gland is located in the anterior portion of the neck.

It's a bilobed structure that's connected by an itthmus.

...