GOITRE IN CHILDREN
Symptoms: Swelling in the front of the neck
Home care Do not attempt to treat at home. Treatment depends on the cause, which must be diagnosed by a doctor.
Precautions:
- During pregnancy, do not take medications (even over-the-counter drugs) without your doctor’s approval.
- Since not all thyroid glands are in exactly the same position, a lump in the neck should never be removed without first testing to be sure it is not the thyroid gland.
A goitre is an enlargement of the thyroid gland which causes a swelling in the front of the neck. The thyroid gland lies just below and to either side of the larynx (Adam’s apple). The thyroid gland produces hormones that control the body’s metabolism rate – the rate at which foods are used for energy and growth. A normal thyroid is barely if at all visible and can barely be felt.
A goitre may be present in a newborn infant, especially if the pregnant mother was on certain medications (including iodides in anti-asthma or cough medicines). Insufficient iodine in your child’s diet also can cause a goitre. Once common, this disease is now rare because of general use of iodized table salt and more widespread eating of seafood. (Seafood is naturally high in iodine content.)
A goitre is most common between the ages of six and 16 years. It occurs in girls nine times as often as it does in boys. It is most often due to an autoimmune (self-destructive) disease-Hashimoto’s thyroiditis -of unknown cause. Enlargement of the thyroid is rarely due to malignancy. A goitre may be hyperactive (producing too much hormone) or hypoactive (producing too little hormone), but usually it is neither.
A goitre can be seen and felt as a swelling in the front of the neck. This swelling usually appears just below and to either side of the Adam’s apple. Often the swelling is noticed when a shirt collar or neck jewelry no longer fits. Generally, there are no other symptoms.
Home care
No home treatment should be attempted until the cause of goitre is diagnosed by your doctor. The cause cannot be diagnosed without laboratory tests.
Precautions
• During pregnancy, do not take medications (even over-the-counter drugs) without your doctor’s approval.
• Not all thyroid glands are in exactly the same position in the neck. Any lump in the midline of the neck may be a goitre of an unusually positioned thyroid. A lump should never be removed from this area without first testing to be sure it is not the thyroid gland.
Medical treatment
Blood tests, often requiring complicated laboratory work, are used to find the cause of goitre. The treatment for goitre depends on the cause and can include giving oral thyroxine (thyroid hormone) or desiccated thyroid for months or years. Surgery is rarely necessary except in rare cases of malignancy or when the goitre obstructs breathing in infants.
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