The role of serum thyroglobulin concentration and thyroid ultrasound imaging in the detection of iodide transport defects in infants

Abstract

When discovered by neonatal screening, a thyroid dyshormonogenesis is usually not recognized as a goitre. Especially a total iodide transport defect can easily be misclassified as thyroid agenesis, since radionuclide imaging cannot visualize the thyroid. We present the only iodide transport defect ever discovered in the Netherlands, the 35th reported in the literature, and the first one found exclusively as a result of neonatal screening. We demonstrate that iodide transport defects, in common with organification and deiodinase defects, can be distinguished from thyroid dysgenesis by demonstrating a normal or enlarged thyroid ultrasound image, and especially by measuring very high serum thyroglobulin levels (above 1000 pmol/l). In the presented case, an iodide-123 saliva-to-serum ratio near unity completed the etiologic classification. Measurement of serum thyroglobulin levels, in combination with thyroid ultrasound imaging, will improve the early identification of hereditary types of congenital hypothyroidism, and especially iodide transport defects, in patients found by neonatal thyroid screening.