QUADRICEPS TEST FOR THE MYASTHENIA OF THYROIDISM

The test described here has been of considerable value in diagnosis of hyperthyroidism based on the well established weakness of the quadriceps femoris in this disease. The patient sits well forward on the edge of a straight chair and holds the leg out at right angles to the body. In very few cases of thyroidism of any marked degree of intensity will it be possible for one to maintain the leg in this position more than twenty-five or thirty seconds, while in the majority of cases not affected by thyroidism the leg can, with any real effort, be held in this position for approximately one minute. We have applied this test to between one and two hundred patients, some of whom were suffering from thyroid disease and others not. Statistical data will be published later. 605 Commonwealth Avenue.