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ENDO: Thyroid Hormone Not Necessary To Shrink Thyroid Nodules By Emma Patten-Hitt Special to DG News DENVER, CO -- June 22, 2001 -- Routine use of thyroid hormone to shrink nodules in patients with normal thyroid function may be unnecessary, as only a small percentage appear to grow, according to the results of a new study. Dr. Poj Tannirandorn with the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, United States, reported the findings yesterday (Thursday) at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society (ENDO) in Denver, Colorado. Although the majority of thyroid nodules (90 percent) are benign, many physicians recommend that patients with thyroid nodules be treated with thyroid hormone therapy, suggesting that it may prevent further growth of the nodules, according to the researchers. Dr. Tannirandorn and his colleagues used ultrasound to evaluate the growth pattern of 132 benign thyroid nodules, which were taken from 93 patients not taking suppressive thyroid hormone therapy. They recorded nodule size in three dimensions and the size was said to have changed if it had changed by more than 10 percent in two dimensions over the course of a year. A total of 79 (60 percent) of the nodules did not change size, 45 (34 percent) decreased in size, and eight (6 percent) increased in size. There was no significant difference in the growth pattern of solid versus complex nodules. The eight nodules that grew were found to be benign after fine needle aspiration. Dr. Tannirandorn and his colleagues suggest that the lack of significant growth means that nodules have either reached their maximum size or are growing very slowly and may require a longer surveillance period. Based on these results, "routine administration of TSH suppressive thyroid hormone therapy to prevent growth is unwarranted," they conclude. E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version