Thyrotropin serum levels and coexistence with Hashimoto's thyroiditis as predictors of malignancy in children with thyroid nodules.

Thyroid cancer (TC) in childhood is a rare disease characterized by an excellent prognosis. Thyroid nodules in children, although less common than in adults, have a greater risk of malignancies, particularly in those cases associated with anamnestic, clinical and ultrasonographic risk factors.Among the factors, which have been found to be linked with an increased relative risk of TC in children, an important role seems to be possibly played by an underlying nodular Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) and by the serum levels of TSH.

Phenotypic expression of Hashimoto's thyroiditis is absolutely atypical in girls with Turner syndrome.

Background: It is unknown whether phenotypic expression of Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) might be conditioned by the association with Turner syndrome (TS).

Objectives: To focus on the most recent pediatric studies concerning epidemiology and biochemical course of HT in TS girls.

Design: The epidemiological peculiarities of TS-related HT in pediatric age were compared with those usually observed in non-TS girls with HT and results are summarized in Tables 1 and 2.

APECED syndrome in childhood: clinical spectrum is enlarging.

Autoimmune polyendocrinopathy-candidiasis-ectodermal-distrophy (APECED) is a rare autosomal recessive disease, which is mainly characterized by the association of many autoimmune diseases, with a classic triad including chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis, hypoparathyroidism and adrenocortical failure. Its clinical spectrum has significantly enlarged in the last years and other non-classic components have been recently described. Aim of this review was to alert pediatricians to these novel clinical aspects of this syndrome, that have been recently included among the autoimmune APECED manifestations: a) chronic lung disease, that may evolve to cor pulmonale and terminal respiratory failure; b) chronic inflammatory demyelinating polineuropathy, with progressive muscular weakness of both arms and legs and sensory loss; c) gastrointestinal dysfunction, with recurrent diarrhea, malabsorption and steatorrhea or chronic constipation.