Sonography of multinodular thyroid gland in children and adolescents
C. J. Garcia, A. Daneman, P. Thorner and D. Daneman
Departamento Radiologia, Hospital Clinico Universidad Catolica, Santiago, Chile.
Multinodular disease of the thyroid gland is uncommon in children and
adolescents, and has received little attention in the recent literature.
This article reviews the clinical, sonographic, and pathologic findings in
16 children with multinodular disease of the thyroid gland, and draws
attention to the high incidence of other associated clinical findings. This
condition was associated with a triad including renal and digital anomalies
in three patients, with McCune-Albright syndrome in two patients, with
Hashimoto's thyroiditis in three patients, and with thyroid carcinoma in
four patients. Three of five patients with a history of previous radiation
therapy had thyroid carcinoma. Sonography is a proven valuable imaging
modality for the study of thyroid disease in children and has contributed
to our understanding of multinodular disease of the thyroid gland in this
age group.
