Nodular goiter and thyroid cancer in children and adolescents living at the territories of Kaluga district contaminated with radionuclides

Abstract

Thyroid status of children and adolescents living in the Kaluga district at territories contaminated with radionuclides after the Chernobyl accident was followed up from 1986 to 1994. Clinical studies included examination by endocrinologist, ultrasonic examination of the thyroid and regional lymph nodes with fine needle aspiration biopsy of thyroid tissue, if indicated, and measurements of blood serum levels of thyrotropin, thyroxin, triiodothyronine, thyroglobulin and autoantibodies to it, and of antibodies to the microsomal fraction of thyrocytes. Special attention was paid to the detection of nodular formations in the thyroid and identification of their type. The diagnoses were verified at Medical Radiology Research Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in the town of Obninsk. In 1994 an increase in the incidence of nodular goiter was observed in the cohort of children followed up. Four cases of thyroid cancer (follicular and papillary forms) were diagnosed in 1993-1994 among subjects exposed to radioactive iodine in childhood after the accident. Three of these patients were examined and treated at the Medical Radiology Research Center. Detailed excerpts from their case histories are presented.