Severe thyroid atrophy due to prolonged ingestion of thyroid hormone for treatment of obesity.

Severe thyroid atrophy was found at the autopsy of a 39-year-old white woman who died of myocarditis, probably of viral etiology. Prolonged ingestion of thyroid hormone for the treatment of obesity appears to be the only plausible explanation for the atrophy, secondary to suppression of the pituitary thyrotrope.