Objectives:

Describe some clinical characteristics, as well as biochemical and ultrasonographic ones related to the thyroid gland, according to the presence or not of TND, and to identify the possible association of clinical, biochemical, ultrasonographic and cytological factors with the different types of TND in patients with acromegaly.

Methods:

A descriptive, cross-sectional observational study that included 73 patients with acromegaly between January 2003 and December 2017. The following variables were studied: age, sex, skin color, family history of TND, GH levels, thyroid stimulating hormone, free T4, antibodies against thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin, thyroid volume, nodular ultrasound pattern and cytological study.

Results:

TND occurred in 75.3 % of cases, with a predominance of multinodular goiter. The age at diagnosis time was lower in patients with TND (43.53 ± 9.67) than in those who did not have it (49.33 ± 6.96 years) (p=0.02). GH at diagnosis time of acromegaly was lower in patients with TND (18.73±11.33μg/L vs 35.91±21.68μg/L; (p=0.00). The thyroid volume showed significant differences between both groups (14.2±4.5mL in positive cases of TND and 10.5±2.8mL in negative cases; p=0.002), being the most frequent the nodule with low suspicion of malignancy. The rest of the variables were similar between patients with and without TNDs. Cytology was reported as benign in 75% in single nodules, 80% of nodular goiters and 90% of multinodular goiters (p=0.51).

Conclusions:

TND was frequent in cases of acromegaly, and was associated with lower age and lower GH levels at diagnosis time. Multinodular goiter was the most frequent clinical form and hormonal and autoimmunity parameters were not associated with the type of TND.

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