Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Patients that were suspected to have thyroid agenesis on imaging procedures were retrospectively evaluated.

Methods: Totally 4155 patients had scintigraphy imaging between years of 2010–2015 in our university. 4021 (96.77%) patients were adults (>18 years) and 134 patients (3.22%) were in the pediatric population. Among adult population, 3060 (76.1%) were female, and 1095 (27.2%) were male. In the pediatric population, 85 (63.4%) patients were girls and 49 (36.5%) were boys.

Results: Among 4155 patients, 15 (0.36%) of them had no thyroid tissue in the ultrasonography. In the adult population five patients (0.01%) were found to have thyroid agenesis in the ultrasonography whom four were women. Mean ages of the diagnosis was 22 years in the adult population. The oldest diagnosis was 50 years ago and the newest one was four years ago. In the patient with 50 years of history, USG appearence was atrophic thyroid tissue where as in the scintigraphy substernal ectopic thyroid tissue was detected. Three patients had thyroid tissue at the base of the tongue, and one patient had sublingual thyroid tissue in the scintigraphy.

In the pediatric group, 11 patients (8.95%) were diagnosed as thyroid agenesis in the ultrasonography. 3 (33.3%) of them were boys and 8 (66.6%) were girls. Scintigraphic examination showed thyroglossal ectopic tissue in one patient, and in 10 patients, uptake was in the base of the tongue. Four patients (36.6%) were newly diagnosed hypothyroid patients, Seven patients (63.3%) were on LT4 replacement therapy. TSH levels were evaluated in these patients (mean 96.3 mU/l).

Conclusion: Adult patients with hypothyroidism may have agenesis rarely but in the pediatric population it can be seen more frequently so it should be kept in mind especially in the newly diagnosed patients.