[Treatments with synthetic antithyroid drugs during pregnancy. Evaluation of the neonatal thyroid function. 25 cases]

Twenty-four hyperthyroid women were treated with antithyroid drugs during 25 pregnancies. The thyroid function of the 21 children who lived was evaluated by standard clinical and laboratory methods. In 8 of these, T3, T4 and TSH were assayed between birth and the 5th day, with timed samplings during the first hours of life. There was no hypothyroxinaemia at birth, but the T4 peak was delayed; T3 was normal. The TSH peak was abnormal in 3 children, one of whom presented with clinical hypothyroidism. All abnormal findings disappeared spontaneously during the first few days of life, except for one child with congenital Grave's disease who had to be treated. On a 6 months to 6 years follow-up all children had normal growth and psychomotor development.