An Abnormal Thyroid Finding Produced by a Phenothiazine

Abstract

AS PART of an over-all thyroid investigation of ^schizophrenic subjects, the protein-bound iodine (PBI) was one of the indices studied. Deviations from the normal (4-8 meg 100 ml.) have seldom been encountered in our schizophrenic population. However, in an investigation of the effect of psychophannaceuticals on thyroid function, it was noticed that in a small group of patients receiving perphenazine the PBI tended to rise. Two patients, for example, had normal values for 3 base-line PBI's taken before going on medication (as part of a study in which their thyroid function was investigated every 3 months). At the end of 3 months of therapy with perphenazine at a dose of 24 mg. per day, all had PBI's above 8; the high values persisted during the 3-month placebo period which followed (table). A third patient who became disturbed and had to receive perphenazine had a normal PBI before receiving the drug,