Treatment for congenital hypothyroidism: thyroxine alone or thyroxine plus triiodothyronine?

Objective: To compare the effects of therapy with thyroxine (T4) plus triiodothyronine (T3) versus T4 alone from the first days of life in screened congenital hypothyroid (CH) infants.

Methods: We examined 14 CH infants diagnosed by neonatal screening and a group of control infants. CH patients were divided randomly into 2 groups, 1 treated with T4 alone (group 1) and the other treated with T4 plus T3 (liothyronine; group 2).

[Neuropsychological follow-up of children with phenylketonuria treated early].

We evaluated, yearly, the neuro-psychological development in 16 out of the 27 children with phenylketonuria detected via neonatal screening in the years 1980-90. 14 children had the classical form, while 2 had "variant" type of phenylketonuria. Development quotients always were slightly lower in patients than in controls, but the greatest difference was seen at 1 year of age (92.

School-related behavior in children with cancer.

Ninety-one children with cancer (thirty-seven with leukemia and fifty-four with solid tumors)--school aged (elementary and middle school), residing in Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy), and receiving treatment at the Department of Pediatrics (III), University of Bologna, from August 1973 to April 1987--took part in a study of school behavior as perceived by the teacher. The research was carried out through a 29-item forced-choice questionnaire based on the questionnaire proposed by Deasy-Spinetta for a similar study in the U.S.

Intellectual function in long-term survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

21 off-therapy ALL patients treated with chemotherapy plus cranial irradiation were assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children and compared with a group of 15 off-therapy solid tumor children treated with chemotherapy and extracranial irradiation. Children with leukemia achieved lower IQ scores than children with solid tumors. The ALL group was divided in two subgroups, by onset of disease and beginning of treatment: before (13 subjects) and after (8 subjects) 5 years of age.