Measurement of Thyroid Volume in Normal Adult Saudi Women Using Ultrasonography

Abstract

The thyroid gland is a vital endocrine gland in the body, estimation of its volume is generally consider to be an important in several pathologic situations such as iodine deficiency, Goiter, thyroiditis, multinodular goiter and others. The aim of this study was to measure the thyroid volume in normal adult Saudi female. 50 normal adult Saudi female were scanned with high resolution sonography of the thyroid gland using Toshiba ultrasound machine (7.5 MHZ linear transducer) the volume of each lobes of thyroid gland was calculated automatically in the machine by using Ellipsoid formula (the volume = length×width×depth ×0.479). the total thyroid volume obtained by adding the volume of both lobes the study shows the mean age was 34.6800 years old, the overall mean volume of thyroid gland was 6.3420ml. The mean volume of right lobe was 3.33ml. The mean volume of left lobe was 3.0120 ml. there was no difference of right and left lobe volume among all age groups and medium correlation between thyroid volume and weight . The study concluded that ultrasound has been proven as a useful method for assessment of the thyroid volume for its safety and less expensive. The result can be used as a local reference of thyroid volume in a dult Saudi female