Background: According to WHO iodine excreted with urine is a measure
of its supply. Due to International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency
Disorders (ICCIDD), the urinary iodine (UI) should be above 100 μg I per 1
L of urine. The moderate iodine deficiency (MID) occurs when UI is from 50
to 100 μg/L and the severe deficiency (SID) when UI is below 50 μg/L.
Material/Methods: UI analysis in 32 heart transplant recipients (26 men and 6
women; mean age 50.4±12.6 yr) by modified PAMM method (the spectrophotometric measurement based on the Sandell-Kolthoff reaction). Results were evaluated and compared with thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH; μIU/mL), free triiodothyronine (FT3; pg/mL) and thyroxin (FT4; ng/dL). Hormones were measured using a Microparticle Enzyme Immunoassay (MEIA).
Results: The average UI in the whole group was 126.4±109.6. Unfortunately,
SID in 12 patients (37.5%) and MID in 4 of them (12.5%) was noted (mean UI: 17.0±9.6 and 79.5±5.6, respectively). In the rest 16 patients (50%) average UI was high and amounted 220.1±72.1. TSH, FT3 and FT4 in the whole group were in the normal range. However, FT4 values significantly differed when SID and MID-patients were compared to those with recommended UI (0.8±0.2 and 0.9±0.1 vs. 1.1±0.2, p<0.05; respectively). Decreased values of TSH in 5 patients (15.6%) and FT3 or FT4 in 6 (18.8%) were noted.
Conclusions: Measurements of urinary iodine in heart transplant recipients
together with thyroid gland hormones may be essential to monitoring and
preventing thyroid gland abnormalities.

Keywords: Heart Transplantation