THYROID ULTRASOUND IN IDDM

Insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDMM) is often associated with au toimmune thryroiditis (AIT) and a high prevalence of thyroid antibodie s (TA). Ultrasound imaging of the thyroid may contribute to the evalua tion of patients with AIT. We therefore investigated ultrasound findin gs of the thyroid in 83 IDDM patients (44F, 39M) with an age range of 2.3-22.3 yrs (median 11.1). Thyroid volume (ml) determined by ultrasou nd ranged between 1.3 and 17.9 (median 5.7). Thyroid volumes of 75 hea lthy children (32F, 43M) with an age range of 2.0 to 11.8 yrs (median 7.6) ranged between 1.6 and 13.2 ml (median 4.8) and did not show a si gnificant difference from the IDDM group from age 4 to 12. TA were pos itive in 18.8% of the IDDM group. Thyroid volume was higher in TA (+) diabetics (p=0.05), a finding which may be attributed to a higher perc entage of cases with elevated TSH in the TA (+) group. Two diabetic pa tients showed non-homogeneous hypoechogenecity in the ultrasound compa tible with AIT which was later confirmed in one of these cases by aspi ration biopsy. Ultrasound imaging of the thyroid may contribute to the evaluation of patients with AIT in IDDM.