Endocrine Abstracts

COVID-19 is a serious problem of modern medicine. The disease has many manifestations, as it affects almost all organs and systems. One of the target organs of the endocrine system is the thyroid gland. The aim of the study was to identify the patterns of development and course of subacute thyroiditis in patients who underwent COVID-19. The study included 9 clinical cases. In all cases, these were women aged 32 to 54 years. All patients were sick with COVID-19 (4 of them were treated at home, 5 - in a specialized hospital). In two patients, the first symptoms of the disease appeared even with a positive PCR test, in 2 patients, symptoms appeared 2 weeks after receiving an already negative PCR test, in 5 - in the interval of 1.5 - 2 months after receiving a negative PCR test. All patients have subfebrility, deterioration of general well-being, sharp weakness. 5 patients complained of an unexpressed headache with irradiation in the neck. This was regarded by all patients as a consequence of the ongoing or recent COVID-19. 4 patients noted discomfort with head movements and swallowing. The examination revealed moderate leukocytosis (11,9±4.7 x 10⁹/l), elevated ESR (36±11 mm/h). There were no other symptoms indicating the nature of the disease, except for soreness during palpation in the projection of the thyroid gland in all patients. In this regard, all of them underwent ultrasound of the neck organs, in which heterogeneous hypoechoic darkening was detected, occupying from 14 to 85% of the volume of the thyroid gland, an increase in the lymph nodes of the neck was detected in 6 patients. From the moment of the first symptoms to the diagnosis and the start of treatment, it took from 2 to 4 weeks. At that time, 4 patients were treated for COVID-19, and 5 were undergoing rehabilitation treatment. The difficulty of making a correct diagnosis was due to asthenization and nonspecific symptoms of viral infection, as well as the fact that the development of subacute thyroiditis was preceded by the use of antiviral and antibacterial drugs, as well as glucocorticoids. Sonography was the key diagnostic method for all patients.