Determination of thyroid volume in infants with suspected congenital hypothyroidism—the limitations of both subjective and objective evaluation

Objective: To compare two methods of assessing gland size on thyroid ultrasound in newborn infants with suspected congenital hypothyroidism (CH). Methods: Images from infants with eutopic glands referred between 2007 and 2013 were evaluated blind by two sets of observers. Subjective gland size was categorised as small, borderline-small, normal, borderline-large and large. Objective gland volume, calculated as the sum of each lobe using the prolate ellipsoid formula (length x width x depth x π/6), was put into corresponding categories: <0.8, 0.81–1.0, 1.1– <2.2, 2.2–2.4 and >2.4 ml, derived from normative Scottish data. Results: Of 36 infants, permanent CH was present in 17, transie…