ESPE Abstracts

Background: The thyroid disorders in children and adolescents are varied. They are dominated by frequent malignant tumour lesions and goitres represented by Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis in adolescence. They are characterized by several clinical forms.

Objective and hypotheses: To study the clinical and aetiological characteristics of thyroid disease in children and adolescents.

Method: This is a retrospective descriptive study of 48 observations of thyroid diseases in children and adolescents collected over a 10-year period (2005–2015).

Results: Average age of our patients was 12.96 years (2–16), the prevalence is feminine with three 8G/10B familial predisposition was found IN 46.6% (n: 20). We observed 15 cases of hypothyroidism (eight congenital and seven autoimmune), 13 cases of hyperthyroidism (Graves’ disease 100%) 12 cases of euthyroid goitre and six cases of thyroid nodule. Four of them were related neoplastic: differentiated thyroid cancer diagnosed at an advanced stage in 50% cases (T4 M1N1).

Conclusion: Hypothyroidism can be congenital or acquired. It must be recognized and treated precociously to avoid deleterious effect on psychomotor development and growth. Hyperthyroidism in children is dominated by Graves’ disease. The diagnosis is easy, the main difficulty is regarding patient care due to frequent relapses. In front of a thyroid nodule, the obsession is thyroid cancer that is characterized by a significant aggressiveness and poor prognosis. Cytology and clinical and morphological monitoring are essential. Despite the correction of iodine deficiency in our country, the prevalence of simple goitre remains high.