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Additional Phenotypic Abnormalities with Presence of Cysts within the Empty Thyroid Area in Patients with Congenital Hypothyroidism with Thyroid Dysgenesis

Pediatric Endocrinology Unit and Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U-457 (D.M., P.C., J.L.), and Radiology Department (C.G.), Hôpital Robert Debré, 75019 Paris, France

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Juliane Léger, M.D., Pediatric Endocrinology Unit and INSERM, U-457, Hôpital Robert Debré, 48 boulevard Serurier, 75019 Paris, France. E-mail: juliane.leger{at}rdb.ap-hop-paris.fr.

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is most frequently caused by thyroid developmental abnormalities, and it has recently been shown to have a familial component with members affected by either CH or asymptomatic thyroid developmental abnormalities. The pathogenesis of the disease is unknown, but it seems possible that a common genetic mechanism underlies these heterogeneous phenotypic expressions. Associations among these anomalies in the same individuals have occasionally been described. The aim of this study was to investigate whether cysts of the thyroglossal duct could be shown by ultrasonography in patients with CH caused by thyroid dysgenesis.

Children with CH (n = 57) who were diagnosed by newborn TSH screening were prospectively evaluated by ultrasonography at the age of 10.5 ± 4.5 yr. The etiology of CH (ectopic thyroid tissue, n = 42; athyreosis, n = 15) was established before treatment initiation on the basis of thyroid radioiodine scanning and the absence of any thyroid tissue in the normal location confirmed by ultrasonography. Cysts were found in 39 patients (68% of cases) with either ectopic thyroid tissue (n = 29) or athyreosis (n = 10). All cysts were located in the empty thyroid area in the left (57%) or right (43%) side and were mostly closer to the midline. Patients had either a single cyst (n = 16 patients) or multiple cysts (n = 23 patients). The cysts were bilateral in 17 of the 39 patients. Most of them were vertically oval or round, with a size ranging in diameter from 2–21 mm (mean, 3.5 ± 2).

In conclusion, the presence of cysts within the empty thyroid area in 68% of patients with CH due to thyroid dysgenesis is a novel observation that is part of the developmental anomaly of this disease. Several explanations can be put forward to explain the presence of these cysts. They might be due to the persistence of the ultimobranchial bodies as a cystic structure or part of the thyroid-forming material, which may migrate along the normal pathway of the usual course of the thyroglossal duct, giving rise to cell residues within the empty thyroid area.

Abbreviations: CH, Congenital hypothyroidism; FT₃, free T₃; FT₄, free T₄.

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