[Echography of the thyroid gland in the diagnosis of endemic goiter]

Screening of 1520 children living in the Khvalynsk district of the Saratov region, including assessment of urinary excretion of iodine and ultrasonic examinations of the thyroid in children and adults, revealed endemic goiter in the region. Special attention was paid to echographic examination of the thyroid; this method was used in examinations of 161 children aged 2 to 14 with thyroid enlargement of the I-III degree. 103 (64.0%) of there children had enlarged thyroid, in some children with diffusely enlarged thyroid of the I-II degree ultrasonic examination showed no enlargement, and in some children the gland was found even reduced in size. The greatest discrepancy between the data of palpation and ultrasonography was observed in first-degree thyroid enlargement, the least so in second-degree enlargement; in third-degree enlargement there was no such a discrepancy. Assessment of thyroid structure revealed various disorders of the organ in 29 of the 161 examined children, these disorders present both in enlarged glands and in those of normal or reduced size. Nodes that could not be palpated were detected in 2 children. Ultrasonic examinations of 56 adults aged 20 to 60 revealed changed structure of the thyroid in 35, with nodes of various sizes and localization detected in 15 of these.