US EPA

9938300 

Journal Article 

Thyroid ultrasound findings in a follow-up survey of children from three Japanese prefectures: Aomori, Yamanashi, and Nagasaki 

Hayashida, N; Imaizumi, M; Shimura, H; Furuya, F; Okubo, N; Asari, Y; Nigawara, T; Midorikawa, S; Kotani, K; Nakaji, S; Ohtsuru, A; Akamizu, T; Kitaoka, M; Suzuki, S; Taniguchi, N; Yamashita, S; Takamura, N 

2015 

1 

Scientific Reports
EISSN: 2045-2322 

5 

9046 

English 

25762224 

10.1038/srep09046 

We conducted ultrasound thyroid screening in cohort of 4,365 children aged between 3 to 18 years in three Japanese prefectures (Aomori, Yamanashi, and Nagasaki) using the same procedures as used in the Fukushima Health Survey. Forty-four children had nodules ≥ 5.1 mm in diameter or cysts ≥ 20.1 mm in diameter detected at the first screening, and 31 of these children underwent the second follow-up survey. We collected information from thyroid ultrasound examinations and final clinical diagnoses and re-categorized the thyroid findings after the second examination. Twenty children had nodules ≥ 5.1 mm in diameter or cysts ≥ 20.1 mm in diameter at the second examination; of these, one child was diagnosed with a thyroid papillary carcinoma and the remaining 19 children were diagnosed with possibly benign nodules such as adenomas, adenomatous nodules, and adenomatous goiters. A further 11 children were re-categorized as "no further examinations were required." Our results suggest that ultrasound thyroid findings in children may change with a relatively short-term passing period, and that thyroid cancer may exist at a very low but certain frequency in the general childhood population.