[Sonographically established thyroid volume in 7- to 11-year-old children]

Abstract

Since the introduction of thyroid sonography as a routine method for thyroid investigation sonographically determined volumes are being increasingly used for comparative studies concerning the incidence of goitre. The main purpose of this paper is to establish mean values in seven to eleven years old children with sufficient iodine supply as evaluated by urine iodine excretion. Thus it was possible to fix standard mean values to be applied also in non endemic areas. The average thyroid volume of seven to eleven years old subjects was established to be 4.89 +/- 1.83 ml. Additionally the significance of palpatory findings in this age group was compared with sonographic values. The palpation alone especially in the age mentioned is mostly unsuitable in order to differentiate between normals and early goitre development. Consequently sonography is essential in epidemiological studies of goitre incidence.