FREQUENCY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF LINGUAL THYROID NOT DETECTED BY SCREENING

Four patients with lingual thyroid glands presenting beyond the neonat al period have been evaluated at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toron to since the advent of neonatal TSH screening, All were female, clinic ally euthyroid at diagnosis and presented with symptoms of a lingual m ass, We estimate that 1.6% of lingual thyroids are missed by this TSH based thyroid screening program and approximately 1/600,000 live birth s present in childhood or adolescence with a lingual thyroid, Physicia ns should still include lingual thyroid in the differential diagnosis of a mass at the base of the tongue.