[Current approaches to estimating the sizes of the thyroid in neonates and infants from ultrasonographic data].

The thyroid was ultrasonographically studied in 384 pre-term babies aged 4-8 days of life. The sizes of thyroid lobes were determined; the echogenicity of the thyroid was compared with that of the parotid salivary gland. The infants were born by apparently healthy mothers and females with iodine deficiency. An original procedure for neonatal ultrasound study was developed. Data statistical processing yielded a formula of the individual standard of a thyroid volume, which allows neonatal goiter and thyroid hypoplasia to be established at early stages of life.