American Journal of Roentgenology, Vol 164, 1489-1491, Copyright © 1995 by American Roentgen Ray Society

ARTICLES

Sonographic demonstration of a normal thyroid gland excludes ectopic thyroid in patients with thyroglossal duct cyst

JE Lim-Dunham, KA Feinstein, DK Yousefzadeh and T Ben-Ami
Department of Radiology, Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL 60614, USA.

OBJECTIVE. Preoperative thyroid scintigraphy has been performed in patients with presumed thyroglossal duct cyst to document a normal thyroid and to exclude the possibility of an ectopic thyroid mimicking a thyroglossal duct cyst. Often, an ectopic thyroid is the patient's only functioning thyroid tissue, and its removal will result in hypothyroidism. The purpose of this study was to determine whether demonstration of a normal thyroid gland by sonography in children with thyroglossal duct cyst can exclude ectopic thyroid and thereby obviate routine preoperative thyroid scintigraphy. MATERIALS AND METHODS. We studied 30 patients with pathologically proved thyroglossal duct cysts who had neck sonograms. The sonograms were evaluated for the presence or absence of a normal thyroid gland. The medical records of these children were also reviewed. Three children had normal preoperative radionuclide thyroid scans. All the children were clinically euthyroid preoperatively. Follow-up was available in 15 of the 30 patients, and all of these patients were clinically euthyroid postoperatively. RESULTS. A sonographically normal thyroid gland was detected in all patients. CONCLUSION. Preoperative sonographic identification of a normal thyroid gland in patients with thyroglossal duct cyst confirms a source of thyroid hormone separate from the thyroglossal duct cyst and thus excludes ectopic thyroid. Routine thyroid scintigraphy is not necessary.
CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				N. Kutuya and Y. Kurosaki Sonographic Assessment of Thyroglossal Duct Cysts in Children J. Ultrasound Med., August 1, 2008; 27(8): 1211 - 1219. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Radiology Quiz Case 2: Diagnosis Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg, September 1, 2007; 133(9): 943 - 944. [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. K. Brown and J. E. Lane A Neck Mass in a Young Child Clinical Pediatrics, December 1, 2001; 40(12): 673 - 675. [PDF]

				P. Gupta and J. Maddalozzo Preoperative Sonography in Presumed Thyroglossal Duct Cysts Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg, February 1, 2001; 127(2): 200 - 202. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. F. Branstetter, J. L. Weissman, T. L. Kennedy, and M. Whitaker The CT Appearance of Thyroglossal Duct Carcinoma AJNR Am. J. Neuroradiol., August 1, 2000; 21(8): 1547 - 1550. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				K. K. Koeller, L. Alamo, C. F. Adair, and J. G. Smirniotopoulos From the Archives of the AFIP: Congenital Cystic Masses of the Neck: Radiologic-Pathologic Correlation RadioGraphics, January 1, 1999; 19(1): 121 - 146. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. E. Tunkel and E. E. Domenech Radioisotope Scanning of the Thyroid Gland Prior to Thyroglossal Duct Cyst Excision Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg, May 1, 1998; 124(5): 597 - 599. [Full Text] [PDF]