[Follow-up and prognosis of congenital hypothyroidism]. / Follow-up e prognosi dell'ipotiroidismo congenito.

Neonatal screening of congenital hypothyroidism has been recently extended to the most of North America, Australia, Europe, and to several Italian areas. Before screening programs, several Authors reported neurological defects and behavioral disturbances also in patients whose treatment has been precocious, thus stressing the importance of an antenatal thyroidal defect. We have therefore setted up a follow-up program to evaluate the prevalence and to treat such disturbances in hypothyroid children. In this report we describe the program, present the most significant preliminary data and discuss the prognosis of hypothyroid patients detected by screening programs.