rome and Goiter

Topics: Congenital Hypothyroidism; Goiter; History, 15th Century; History, 16th Century; History, 17th Century; Humans; Medicine in the Arts; Paintings; Rome

The aim of the study was the assessment of the urinary iodine excretion and the evaluation of thyroid volume compared with clinical examination in 1040 schoolchildren (6-14 years old), living in Rome. Mean urinary iodine excretion was 98.52 +/- 49.81 micrograms/l (median 92 micrograms/l). Thyroid enlargement, as assessed by palpation, was found to be grade 1A in 35.4% of the children, grade 1B in 9.6% and grade 2 in 0.2%. Thyroid volume, determined by ultrasound, increased with age, was significantly correlated with body surface area and was significantly higher in females, as compared to males, in the 11 and 12 years old group. Eleven children (1.9%) were negative at palpation (grade 0) but showed thyroid enlargement by ultrasound. The prevalence of goiter determined by ultrasound resulted to be 4.7%.

Topics: Adolescent; Age Factors; Biomarkers; Child; Female; Goiter; Health Surveys; Humans; Iodine; Male; Palpation; Prevalence; Rome; Thyroid Gland; Ultrasonography

The classification proposed by Woolner et al. (1961, 1971) has been applied to 139 cases of primary malignant tumors of the thyroid gland diagnosed in one of the largest hospitals of Rome, Italy, over a period of 5 years, from 1977 to 1981. These cases come from 1418 patients with enlargement of the thyroid surgically treated at the 5th Surgical Clinic of the University of Rome. All the histologic slides were re-examined, and the pathology records were reevaluated. Of these tumors, 56.8% were papillary, 30.9% follicular, 9.3% anaplastic or undifferentiated, and 2.1% medullary. There was a female predominance in all age groups and for all types of tumors, reflecting a total female to male ratio of 1.9:1. Papillary carcinoma occurred most commonly in young and young-adult patients, follicular in the middle-age group, and anaplastic in the elderly. The extent of the primary tumor, the presence of regional metastases, and the association with other thyroid nonneoplastic diseases such as lymphocytic and Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and nontoxic and toxic goiter were also recorded. Multicentric tumors were found in 38.9% of cases principally represented by papillary carcinomas. Regional lymph node metastases were observed mainly in young patients, and no correlation was found between thyroid cancer incidence and other nonneoplastic thyroid diseases.

Topics: Adenoma; Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Carcinoma; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Goiter; Humans; Infant; Lymphatic Metastasis; Male; Middle Aged; Retrospective Studies; Rome; Sex Factors; Thyroid Neoplasms