Background: Most adults with the ectopic thyroid gland (ETG) are asymptomatic at the time of detection of ETG. Unlike adults, the clinical and morphological spectrum of ETG in children remains less characterized. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data of children with primary congenital hypothyroidism (CH) due to ETG who attended the pediatric endocrinology clinic of our hospital between April 2004 and March 2016. The diagnosis of ETG was based on combined scanning with technetium-99m (99mTc) pertechnetate thyroid scintigraphy and high-resolution thyroid ultrasonography.
Results: Twenty-four(18.7%) of the 128 children with primary CH were identified to have ETG. Their mean age at diagnosis was 64.3 47 months (range, 0.5–144 months); 17 (70.8%) were girls. The mode of diagnosis was based on symptoms in 20, newborn screening in 3 and incidental in 1. Symptoms included poor weight gain…
