The Newborn Screening Case Management staff can recommend a consultant in your area. Frequent developmental assessment, using a method recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, is essential. In the presence of clinical symptoms, evaluation for congenital hypothyroidism should be performed despite normal screening results. Specimens collected within the first 24 hours of life may exhibit a false positive result. A child placed on treatment by 3 weeks of age, whose serum T4 is maintained in the normal range by careful adjustment of thyroid hormone medication, should have normal growth, development, and intellectual potential.
Goitrous hypothyroidism is more likely to be genetic.
Families with this condition should be referred for genetic counseling.