The Relationship between Peak Systolic Velocity of Thyroid Gland Arteries and Thyroid Stimulating Hormone Level in Diffuse Goiter Patients

Thyroid disease is the second most common type of endocrine pathology after diabetes mellitus, diffuse goiter accounts for more than 80% of all thyroid abnormalities. Sonography and Doppler study permit direct visualization of thyroid gland including its abnormalities with minimum cost and reduced time of diagnosis. In addition, pulse wave Doppler study can confirm increasing and decreasing blood flow within thyroid gland including measuring the peak systolic velocity of thyroid arteries. Patients with diffuse goiter have variable thyroid-stimulating hormone levels in their blood which reflects their clinical status as eu-, hypo-or hyper-thyroidism. The aim of this study was to find the relationship between peak systolic velocity and thyroid-stimulating hormone level in diffuse goiter patients.

One hundred and twenty one patients with diffuse goiter were involved in this research measuring their thyroid-stimulating hormone levels-resembling normal value (0.4–2.5 mu/l) and examined with ultrasound and calculating their thyroid arteries peak systolic velocity-resembling normal value (10-28cm/sec) by Pulse wave Doppler study. No such study was done including these variable data in diffuse goiter patients.

Sixty seven patients with normal thyroid-stimulating hormone level had normal peak systolic velocity, 29 patients with low thyroid-stimulating hormone level had high peak systolic velocity, and 25 patients with high thyroid-stimulating hormone level had low peak systolic velocity.

There was a significantly high negative correlation between peak systolic velocity value and thyroid-stimulating hormone level in diffuse goiter patients (if thyroid-stimulating hormone decreases, then the peak systolic velocity increases) giving indirect information about patients’ clinical status variation from euthyroidism, hypo-and hyperthyroidism.