Congenital Thyrotoxicosis, Hepatosplenomegaly and Jaundice in Two Infants of Exophthalmic Mothers

Abstract

This paper describes two infants with congenital enlargement of the thyroid and hepatosplenomegaly. One infant died at birth from obstetrical causes, the other lived for 33 days, during which time he was thyrotoxic and jaundiced. Though the first infant was not jaundiced, and, naturally, showed no signs of thyrotoxicosis, we consider that he showed all the other features of the syndrome. Maternal History Both infants were the offspring of mothers who had undergone thyroidectomy for Graves's disease, two years and four years respectively, before the birth of the affected infant. In both mothers the course of the thyrotoxicosis was unusual in that there was no weight loss during the course of the disease and the exophthalmos persisted unchanged after operation. We consider that both women had a supra-thyroid (pituitary) type of 460 copyright.

Neonatal Graves’ Disease and Cholestatic Jaundice: Case Series and Review of the Literature

“…Hepatic manifestations of neonatal hyperthyroidism were reported as early as 1955 and are recognized, though less common, manifestations of neonatal Graves' disease [14]. Literature review identified 11 case reports discussing the hepatic manifestations of neonatal Graves' disease [14]- [24].…”

Congenital Hyperthyroidism

“…Such a d isp arity could well occur b y chance, b u t it is o f in te re st t h a t in tw o fam ilies described b y D avies (1943), congenital goitre (w ith o u t h y p e rth y ro i dism ) affected m ales only. Skelton and Gans (1955) suggested th a t the fem ale foetus m ig h t be b e tte r e q u ip p ed to n eu tralise in som e w ay its m o th e r's excess th y ro id -stim u la tin g horm one.…”