Diagnostic value of radionuclide scanning and ultrasonography in thyroid developmental anomaly imaging

Thyroid is particularly prone to morphogenetic variability. Developmental failure of the thyroid gland is in 85% of cases the underlying cause of congenital hypothyroidism, diagnosed at birth with a frequency of 1:3000-1:4000 newborns. However, the incidence of less severe developmental variants of the thyroid is much higher. Determination of the aetiology of congenital hypothyroidism is crucial for predicting its severity and outcome as well as impacts dose of L-thyroxine during substitution. Thyroid imaging is necessary to establish diagnosis, and it involves mainly thyroid ultrasound examination and scintiscan. Awareness of both the advantages and limitations of sonographic and scintigraphic imaging are central to the successful interpretation of their results and reasonable recommendation of these procedures for patients with thyroid developmental anomalies of different age and clinical picture. Hence, the aim of this review is to provide the most important and up-to-date information on the place of radionuclide scanning and ultrasonography in visualization of different thyroid developmental abnormalities.