Endocrine Abstracts

We analyzed the results of a survey of 51 patients aged 18 to 25 years who were not exposed to ¹³¹I. Patients included in the study had a the first time nodular goiter. The median age of the patient at the time of the diagnosis of nodular goiter was 22.00 (20.32; 23.21) years. Male/female ratio was 1/16. In 23.5% of patients the site was formed against the background of autoimmune thyroiditis, in 76.5% the true nodal formations were revealed against the background of the normal ultrasound structure of the thyroid gland. The sizes of the revealed nodes were in the range of 0.7–1.5 cm. One-half of those surveyed in the thyroid gland were lysed with isoechoic nodes, about 10% of which had ultrasound signs of cystic degeneration. The median free T₄ level was 14.72 (13.25, 16.83) nmol/l, TSH - 1.56 (1.01, 2.23) MmE/l and corresponded to the range of reference values. More than 50% of those surveyed had indications for a fine needle aspiration biopsy. Based on the results of the cytological examination, benign changes were detected in the nodal formations with different degrees of proliferation of the thyroid epithelium. About 10% of those surveyed had cytological signs of degenerative node changes. In 7 (13.7%) of the patients examined, there was a suspicion of papillary cancer. The cytological conclusion was confirmed in all cases after the histological examination. In young adults, benign forms of nodular goiter prevail against the background of a normal thyroid status. However, sporadic cases of thyroid cancer are recorded.