Rare developmental abnormalities of thyroid gland, especially multiple ectopia: A review and our experience

BACKGROUND: Developmental structural abnormalities of the thyroid gland are relatively rare. There are scanty reports of hemiagensis, dual and triple ectopia of the thyroid in the literature MATERIALS AND METHODS: We did a retrospective analysis of 236 patients referred to us for Tc-99m Pertechnetate thyroid scan over period of four months (May 2010 to Sept 2010). Twenty of these 236 patients aged less than 20 years found to have developmental abnormality of the thyroid gland on thyroid scan. Diagnosis was correlated with anatomical imaging (USG/CT scan), fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and histopathology. RESULTS: Out of the 20 patients, 8 were diagnosed with thyroglossal cyst, 4 with ectopic thyroid gland, 4 with dual ectopia, two had agenesis of thyroid gland, one case each with hemiagenesis and triple ectopia. CONCLUSION: The study has emphasized the indispensable role of Tc-99m Pertechnetate thyroid scan in the evaluation of midline neck swellings of childhood and diagnosing developmental anomalies of thyroid gland.