Volume 72 Number 1 January 2005	back to contents

1 Chief, Division of Endocrinology and 2Resident, Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai Services, Queens Hospital Center, Jamaica, NY, and 3Resident, Department of Medicine, Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, NY.

Address all correspondence to Isaac Sachmechi, M.D., Chief, Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai Services, Queens Hospital Center, 82-68 164 th Street, Jamaica, NY 11432; e-mail: sachmeci@nychhc.org

This paper was presented at the NY Thyroid Club meeting of April 2001 and published as an abstract in The Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine 2002; 69(3):192.

Accepted for publication October 2004.

Abstract

Background: The pathophysiological role of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in the development of goiter is controversial. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between thyroid nodularity and serum TSH levels in clinically and biochemically euthyroid patients with non-endemic multinodular goiter.

Methods: We surveyed 44 of our endocrine clinic patients with multinodular goiter. Twenty-five patients with suppressed TSH levels or positive antithyroid antibodies were excluded. The remaining 19 patients were included (group 1). The 19 study subjects were compared with 19 age- and sex- matched controls without any thyroid disease or goiter (group 2). TSH levels in both groups were checked by review of their medical records.

Results: In group 1, TSH ranged from 0.68–3.68 IU/mL (normal: 0.4–6.0 IU/mL), with a mean of 1.45 ± 0.29. In group 2, TSH ranged from 0.38–1.88 IU/mL, with a mean of 1.08 ± 0.1. The differences of these values, analyzed by paired t test (p=0.22), were not statistically significant.

Conclusions: These data suggest that TSH levels in euthyroid patients with multinodular goiter are not significantly different from those in normal controls.

KEYWORDS

Thyroid nodularity, thyroid-stimulating hormone, goiter.

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