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. 2025 Jul 1;14(4):e250085.
doi: 10.1530/ETJ-25-0085. Print 2025 Aug 1.

Validation of established thyroid ultrasound volume norms in a Chernobyl cohort

Lydia B Zablotska, Robert J McConnell, Aleksandr V Rozhko, Patrick O'Kane, Vasilina Yauseyenka, Mark P Little, Victor Minenko, Vladimir Drozdovitch, Tamara Moskvicheva, Maureen Hatch, Tamara Yeudachkova, Kiyohiko Mabuchi, Elizabeth K Cahoon

Validation of established thyroid ultrasound volume norms in a Chernobyl cohort

Lydia B Zablotska et al. Eur Thyroid J. .

Abstract

Objective: To establish thyroid ultrasound volume norms appropriate for studies of diffuse goiter in a cohort of children and adolescents from an iodine-deficient population exposed to 131I by the Chernobyl fallout.

Methods: A cohort of 11,970 Belarusians aged ≤18 years at the time of the 1986 Chernobyl accident with individual thyroid radiation dose estimates was screened 10-18 years later. From these, a low-dose subset of 2,392 with no thyroid diseases was selected to construct age- and sex-specific normative values for thyroid ultrasound volume, compared to Belarusian Ministry of Health (MOH) norms and existing WHO and European standards.

Results: Cohort-specific values were generally lower than MOH norms and WHO standards for 11-17-year-olds. For those aged ≥18 years, internal norms were 30% higher in males and 15-30% lower in females than MOH norms, and exceeded European values for both sexes. Thyroid volume norms were about 40% higher in males and 30% higher in females as a function of BSA compared to European values. Thyroid volume continued to increase in both sexes, and by age 30-34 years, cohort-specific norms were 6% higher in males and 26% higher in females than European values. Urinary iodine concentration did not significantly explain variance in thyroid volume beyond sex, age, and BSA.

Conclusions: In this iodine-deficient cohort of young Belarusians exposed to 131I by Chernobyl fallout, thyroid ultrasound volumes differed substantially from MOH norms and established WHO standards, prompting a revision of diffuse goiter definition using cohort-specific normative values.

Keywords: Chernobyl nuclear accident; diffuse goiter; iodine deficiency; iodine radioisotopes; radiation; thyroid ultrasound volume.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the work reported.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart for sample selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Total thyroid volume reference curves with common percentiles (P) for thyroid volume (mL) according to age (years), separately for males and females.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Total thyroid volume reference curves by body surface area (m2) with common percentiles (P), stratified by sex, for adults (>18 years).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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