Thyroid disease and children

The article was professionally consulted by BSCKII Le Thi My - Director of the Thyroid Pathology Center (Vinmec Times City)

Thyroid dysfunction can affect any age, including children - who are in the age of both physical and intellectual development. Therefore, it is necessary to detect and promptly treat thyroid hormone disorders so that children can develop normally.

Thyroid hormone plays an important role as a regulator of growth, myelin of the nervous system, metabolism, and organ functions. Especially with children, the subject has extremely strong development both physically and intellectually. Any abnormality that disrupts thyroid function can greatly affect a child's development. Besides functional disorders such as hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism... children can also have thyroid nodules including benign as well as malignant nodules.

Hyperthyroidism is a condition in which the thyroid gland increases the secretion of thyroid hormones T3 and T4 into the body's circulatory system. The increased secretion of these hormones leads to an overactive metabolism of the body. Hormones T3 and T4 travel through the blood throughout the body, affecting the organs involved, disrupting the body's homeostasis regulation, leaving the body uncontrollable.
Functionally, hyperthyroidism occurring in children will cause symptoms such as: thinness, weight loss, tachycardia, increased blood pressure, insomnia, menstrual irregularities...
Treatment of the disease Pediatric hyperthyroidism is preferred for medical treatment, if in the case of medical treatment, the pediatric patient relapses many times or has no results, other methods such as radioactive iodine or surgery should be used.
Understanding what you need to know about hyperthyroidism in children will help detect and treat children in time.

Hypothyroidism is a condition in which the thyroid gland cannot produce enough hormones for the body to function properly. In children, hypothyroidism may appear soon after birth or may develop later in childhood.
Children with hypothyroidism will have symptoms such as weight gain, dry skin, sluggishness, lethargy, poor learning ability. Parents need to know what they need to know about hypothyroidism in children so that early detection and timely treatment will greatly affect the physical, mental and intellectual development of children.

Morphologically, according to research, about 2% of children have palpable thyroid tumors. However, unlike adults, the rate of thyroid cancer in children is about 20-50% depending on the study, this number is much higher than that of adults at 5-14%. Moreover, once thyroid cancer is detected in children, the risk of tumor invasion of the thyroid capsule as well as lymph node metastasis is much higher than that of adults. Especially in babies with a family history of close relatives (father, mother, siblings with thyroid cancer), babies with a history of exposure to radioactive substances, babies with genetic diseases. chromosomal transmission such as Down syndrome, familial polyposis, multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN2)... the incidence of thyroid cancer is clearly higher than in other babies.
If thyroid cancer in children is detected and treated early, the prognosis is very good, children can still develop normally, study and live no less than their peers. Therefore, with children at high risk of thyroid cancer or having symptoms of thyroid hormone disorder, parents need to take their children to a doctor for early detection and timely treatment.

Vinmec International General Hospital is a reliable address for parents to entrust their children's health. The Department of Endocrinology belongs to the field of internal medicine, undertakes examination, diagnosis and treatment, based on disease characteristics - chronic diseases related to dysfunction of the endocrine system and hormones.
Common diseases include: thyroid disorders, hyperthyroidism, thyroiditis, thyroid cancer, Grave-Basedow's disease, diabetes, cholesterol disorders, pituitary and adrenal gland disorders, birth hormone disorders obstetrics, hypoglycemia, osteoporosis, rickets and osteomalacia, pituitary disorders, pituitary tumors,...
Specializes in applying new techniques in disease diagnosis and treatment: ultrasound - ultrasound elastography of thyroid tissue, aspiration cytology – large-needle biopsy of thyroid lesions under ultrasound guidance, molecular genetic testing in the diagnosis and management of thyroid nodules, especially with genetically related lesions , treatment of thyroid nodules by radiofrequency ablation (avoiding surgery and helping to preserve the parenchyma and thyroid function as much as possible). In particular, there is a team of well-trained and experienced medical doctors.