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Incidental findings during ultrasound of thyroid, breast, testis, uterus and ovary in healthy term neonates

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Abstract

Incidental sonographic findings in thyroid and estrogen-responsive organs have been described in children and adults, but no publications describe incidental findings of these organs in infancy. We describe ultrasound features in thyroid, breast buds, testes, uterus, and ovaries in infants up to 32 weeks old that vary from the expected tissue architecture. Infants described in this paper were enrolled as healthy term neonates in a longitudinal study of normal feeding practices. Radiology reports for ultrasound exams in these infants described a range of findings that are similar to those reported in older populations. Knowledge of these asymptomatic variants occurring in infancy may guide radiologists in interpretation of these findings during clinical exams.

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Funding

This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (project number Z01-ES044006). Data collection at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) was supported through subcontract PHR-UPS2-S-09–00196 under contract HHSN291200555546C between the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and Social & Scientific Systems Inc (NIEHS). This project was supported by the Nutrition Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and by the National Center for Research Resources, Grant UL1TR000003. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Health.

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Correspondence to Summer L. Kaplan.

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All the procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical Title Page standards. All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Calle-Toro, J.S., Kelly, A., Ford, E.J. et al. Incidental findings during ultrasound of thyroid, breast, testis, uterus and ovary in healthy term neonates. J Ultrasound 22, 395–400 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-019-00365-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-019-00365-6

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