Diagnosis and treatment of thyroid nodules in children / 国际儿科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Although pediatric thyroid nodules are rare,they have higher malignancy potential than those in adult.Prognosis is also different from adults;therefore,it is important to assess the diagnosis,differential diagnosis and treatment in children.The evaluation of thyroid nodules includes history collection,physical examination,laboratory test,ultrasound examination and fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB).Ultrasound and FNAB are of critical importance to assess the diagnosis.Ultrasound can not only accurately locate the lesion,but also provide the information including the size of the lesion,border,blood flow,and so forth.The cells of the lesion can be directly obtained by FNAB for analysis,which may further improve the accuracy of the diagnosis.The main concern in evaluation of thyroid nodules is the verification of whether a lesion is benign or malignant,as for benign nodules,only conservative treatment is needed,but for malignancies,more aggressive treatment is needed,such as lobectomy,total thyroidectomy,regional lymphadenectomy and so forth.Moreover,radioactive iodine therapy and complementary medicine should be recommended after thyroidectomy.