One in five subjects with normal thyroid ultrasonography has altered thyroid tests

The relation between thyroid ultrasonography and laboratory, and the relationship of thyroid volume with clinical and anthropometric parameters, are not well clarified. Aim of the study was to investigate normal and hypoechoic-inhomogeneous not nodular thyroid gland in predicting thyroid tests, and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Endocrine Journal 2012, Vol.59(2), pp.137-143
Main Authors: Trimboli, Pierpaolo, Rossi, Fabio, Thorel, Francesca, Condorelli, Emma, Laurenti, Oriana, Ventura, Claudio, Nigri, Giuseppe, Romanelli, Francesco, Guarino, Margherita, Valabrega, Stefano
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Autoantibodies - analysis
Body Mass Index
Body Surface Area
Cohort Studies
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Organ Size
Retrospective Studies
Sex Characteristics
Thyroid
Thyroid Diseases - blood
Thyroid Diseases - diagnostic imaging
Thyroid Diseases - immunology
Thyroid Diseases - physiopathology
Thyroid Function Tests
Thyroid Gland - diagnostic imaging
Thyroid Gland - immunology
Thyroid Gland - physiology
Thyroid Gland - physiopathology
Thyrotropin - blood
Thyroxine - blood
Ultrasonography
Young Adult
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Summary:The relation between thyroid ultrasonography and laboratory, and the relationship of thyroid volume with clinical and anthropometric parameters, are not well clarified. Aim of the study was to investigate normal and hypoechoic-inhomogeneous not nodular thyroid gland in predicting thyroid tests, and to assess the correlation of thyroid volume with several clinical parameters. The series included 434 subjects (244 with normal thyroid ultrasonography, and 190 with hypoechoic-inhomogeneous thyroid) at their first evaluation. Subjects with normal ultrasonography and skewed tests were re-evaluated after one year. All subjects with normal ultrasound showed normal free-T4, while TSH was elevated in 9.8% of cases and thyroid antibodies were positive in another 9.8%. In patients with hypoechoic-inhomogeneous thyroid, free-T4 was low in 33.2%, TSH was elevated in 78.4% and thyroid antibodies were positive in 76.3%. Normal ultrasonography matched with normal tests in 81.1% of cases while hypoechoic-inhomogeneous thyroid in 9.5% (p
ISSN:0918-8959
1348-4540
DOI:10.1507/endocrj.EJ11-0129