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The Value of Neonatal Serum Thyroglobulin Determinations in the Follow‐up of Patients with Congenital Hypothyroidism
Author(s) -
ILICKI A.,
ERICSSON U.B.,
LARSSON A.,
MORTENSSON W.,
THORELL J.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1990.tb11553.x
Subject(s) - medicine , congenital hypothyroidism , thyroglobulin , euthyroid , thyroid , scintigraphy , endocrinology , gastroenterology , pediatrics
. Serum thyroglobulin was determined in 68 newborn infants with positive screening tests for congenital hypothyroidism. In 38 infants the diagnosis was confirmed (patients), but the remaining 30 were euthyroid at follow‐up (controls). The mean thyroglobulin concentration at the age of 2 weeks did not differ significantly between the patients and the controls (179 vs. 125 μg/l). Thyroid scintigraphy was performed in 15 patients. All seven with thyroid aplasia, based on 99m Tc pertechnetate scintigraphy, had measurable thyroglobulin (> 2 μg/l) and thyroid hormones in their serum. This indicates that total absence of thyroid tissue is very rare in Swedish patients with congenital hypothyroidism. Scintigraphy based on 99m Tc does not permit detection of small amounts of thyroid tissue. The neonatal concentrations of thyroglobulin did not correlate with the results of Griffiths test at 3 years and are therefore not useful for prognosis of psychomotor development. We conclude that neonatal measurement of thyroglobulin is of limited value in the follow‐up of patients with congenital hypothyroidism.