Guidelines for patients with thyroid diseases (A lecture)

Abstract

We continue to discuss problems regarding patients with thyroid disease. Hypothyroidism is a disease that develops due to a decrease in the function of the thyroid gland, which cannot produce the amount of hormones necessary for the body. If little hormone enters the bloodstream, the saturation of the body with thyroid hormones is significantly reduced and, accordingly, all metabolic processes slow down. Screening for newborns for hypothyroidism means that every newborn is screened for his disease. In the past, treatment of newborns with hypothyroidism only began a few months after birth. Many of these children later had problems with studying at school or they were a little awkward, which could have been prevented if treatment had been started at an earlier time. Unfortunately, in our country there is no such system for screening newborns with all the ensuing consequences.To screen hypothyroidism in all newborns, a drop of blood is taken on filter paper. Subsequently, the level of TSH is determined in this blood sample. If it is elevated (and this is the main laboratory symptom of hypothyroidism), then the children are examined again more carefully, and with the confirmation of the diagnosis, they are prescribed treatment with thyroxine.