Îïàðèí Î.À., Õîìåíêî Ë.Î., ßðàíöåâà Í.À. Sonographic features of the thyroid gland in students suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease and autoimmune thyroiditis

 

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Oparin O.A., Khomenko L.O., Yarantseva N.À.

Kharkiv Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education

Department of Therapy, Rheumatology and Clinical Pharmacology

Sonographic features of the thyroid gland in students suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease and autoimmune thyroiditis

 

Nowadays gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is one of the most common diseases among young people. In a significant percentage of cases, the main problem of this disease constitutes in delayed and untimely diagnosis. At the same time, one of the diseases with which GERD often co-occurs is autoimmune thyroiditis. The incidence of GERD is on average 16.8% worldwide, 22.8% in Europe, and 18.4% in Ukraine. Autoimmune thyroiditis occurs in 3-4% population of the world. At the same time in Ukraine, AIT occurs in 3-11% of the population. Both these diseases significantly weight and modify the clinical picture of each other.

These pathologies do not lose their relevance for studying. This is due to a number of reasons: a significant negative influence on the quality of life, a high risk of complications, a long-term recurrent course of the disease. This is particularly actual problem for young people, as the formation of pathological conditions just begins among this category of population.

The purpose of the research: to study the features of the sonographic picture of the thyroid gland amongst patients suffer from GERD with concomitant AIT.

Materials and methods. For research we have selected two groups of patients. The first group consisted of 25 patients aged 18 to 25 years suffering from an isolated non-erosive form of GERD. The second group included 23 patients aged 19 to 25 years, suffering from a non-erosive form of GERD in combination with AIT. The control group consisted of 15 almost healthy people of the same age and gender. Patients were underwent ultrasound examination of the thyroid gland on a ULTIMA pro-30 apparatus (manufactured in Ukraine). Also all patients were underwent a comprehensive examination according to the protocols of diagnosis and treatment of GERD and AIT, that included all necessary clinical, laboratory and instrumental methods of investigation.

The diagnosis was made according to ICD-10. Statistical processing of data was carried out using the programs Microsoft Excel 2007 and Windows STATISTIKA 6.0.

Results of the research. Through ultrasound examination of the thyroid gland the following data was obtained:

- heterogeneous structure of the thyroid gland because of fibrous inclusions as well as contraction of the capsule was identified among 90% of the second group patients,

- 9% of patients showed single expended follicles in the thyroid gland structure;

- in 3.5% of cases areas of reduced echogenicity were found;

- and an increase in the size of the thyroid gland was noted in 2% of patients.

At the same time patients of the first group did not have any sonographic changes from the thyroid gland. Wherein clear correlation dependence was revealed between the degree of expression of the ultrasound pattern of AIT and the severity of clinical manifestations of GERD.

Thus the more sonographic changes in the thyroid gland among patients of the second group were observed, the more clinical manifestations of GERD and duration period of exacerbation were registered. In this case main complaints were: heartburn, especially after eating disorders and increasing in evening and night time, discomfort or pain in esophagus. At the same time, there was no reliable relationship between the degree of expression of the ultrasound picture of AIT and the changes in the indicators of thyroid hormones in the blood. This reliable relationship was registered only as the increasing of anamnesis of the combined course of GERD and AIT more than 5 years.

Conclusions:

1.   A clear correlation between the degree of AIT severity, the duration of the course and the severity of the clinical picture of GERD was established;

2.   The obtained data testifies the presence of common pathogenetic mechanisms that aggravate the course of this comorbid pathology.

 

 

 

List of references:

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2.      I.V. Baranov, Ò.V. Maikov. Endoscopic characteristics of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease in combination with primary hypothyroidism // News of Medicine and Pharmacy, Gastroenterology (thematic issue). - 2010. ¹ 337. - P. 12.

3.      Ivashkin V.T., Maev I.V., Trukhmanov A.S. Gastroesophageal reflux disease. Clinical recommendations // Russian Gastroenterological Association. - 2014. Moscow. – P. 23.

4.      Starostin B.D. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (part I). Epidemiology, risk factors // Gastroenterology of St. Petersburg. 2014. ¹ 1-2. Pp. 2-14.