Measurement of Thyroid Volume in Normal Adult Sudanese 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 Sudanese female. 48 normal adult Sudanese female were scannedwith 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 ×0.52). And the total thyroid volume obtained by adding the volume of both lobes. The result of the study showed that the mean agewas 33.40±10.076years old, the overall mean volume of thyroid gland was 5.367± 0.8028ml. The mean volume of right lobe was 2.824± 0.4296ml.The mean volume of left lobe was2.544 ± .4617ml. The right lobe volume was significantly differing from left lobe volume. Furthermore, a significant correlation was observed between thyroid volume, weight and age of the subject. 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 adult Sudanese femalefor goiter screening in the context of iodine deficiency disorders monitoring.