Management of Benign Thyroid Conditions in Children and Adolescents

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: The incidence of benign thyroid pathology, such as thyroid nodules and autoimmune thyroid disease, is increasing in children and adolescents. Additionally, many centers are moving towards surgical management of hyperthyroidism in lieu of radioactive iodine treatment.
This panel will highlight updates in the management of benign thyroid disease in children and adolescents. This case-based panel will include the surgical management of children with hyperthyroidism, the management of thyroid nodules including the role of molecular testing, emerging literature on radiofrequency ablation of pediatric thyroid nodules and lingual thyroid, and the evaluation and management of mimickers of thyroid pathology such as branchial cleft cysts and midline neck masses. Panelists are experts in high-volume, multi-disciplinary pediatric head and neck surgery with a focus on multidisciplinary thyroidology. Current literature and institutional clinical pathways for the evaluation and treatment of these children will be presented in a practical, tangible format.
These cases will provide special focus on pre-operative evaluation and optimization of patient safety, intraoperative pearls for surgical technique, and team-based decision making. Best practices for building a multidisciplinary group for pediatric care, aligning institutional resources, and approaching team-based science will also be included.

OUTCOME OBJECTIVE 1: To review current and emerging literature on medical and surgical approaches to treating children and adolescents with benign thyroid pathology.

OUTCOME OBJECTIVE 2: To describe strategies for pre-/post-operative evaluation and surgical pearls for the management of thyroid nodules, hyperthyroidism, and mimickers of thyroid disease in children and adolescents.

OUTCOME OBJECTIVE 3: To model approaches to building multi-disciplinary care teams for the care of children and adolescents which can be transferred to other diagnoses and conditions.

BACKGROUND STATEMENT: Otolaryngologists are increasingly asked to participate in multidisciplinary care of benign thyroid pathology in children because of increasing incidence of these problems, emerging minimally-invasive techniques, and decreasing favorability of alternative therapies.