Case history
A 4-year-old girl, referred to the Paediatric Assessment Unit by the GP, with a 2-week history of a cough, feeling unwell, and tired. Accompanied by her mother.
Read the patient information below and answer Question 1.
Early history
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Early history
- Born at term in the UK
- Family are from Bangladesh
Health and medication history
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Health and medication history
- Coughing a lot – nothing is helping
- Feeling tired
- Not vomiting when coughing, no haematemesis
- Not eating or drinking well
- No pyrexia
- No concerns with bowels or passing urine
School history
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School history
- No medical history, never been in hospital
- Not on any prescribed medication
- Using over-the-counter cough mixture, although it has not helped
- No herbal medication, no medication sourced from the internet, no access to recreational drugs
- Immunisations up to date – including BCG (offered in the UK in high-risk areas)
- Had chickenpox last year
- Family live in East London, known as a high-risk area with increased prevalence of tuberculosis
- No recent foreign travel, although paternal uncle has just returned from Bangladesh
Family history
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Family history
- Reception year at primary school
- Doing well
- Has lots of friends
- Mother has type 2 diabetes
- Maternal grandmother has an underactive thyroid
- Mother is 153 cm
- Father is 169 cm
On examination
| Temperature | 36.8°C |
| Heart rate | 120 bpm |
| Respiratory rate | 20 per min |
| O2 saturations in air | 98% |
| Blood pressure on right arm | 90/60 mmHg |
| Capillary refill time (CRT) | Less than 2 seconds |
| Height | 112 cm (75th centile) |
| Weight | 17 kg (10th centile) |
- Her ears, nose and throat are clear, but she is clammy and sweaty.
- There is no increased work of breathing, with good air entry, but there is a slight wheeze bilaterally and she has swollen cervical lymph nodes.
- She has no dysmorphic features, no goitre and is cardiovascularly stable but is tachycardic.
- She is tall for her age in comparison to her parents.
Concluding the history
Mother concerned about the cough.
Thinks she has a cold.
On asking if there was anything else, mother feels she may have been a bit more sweaty in the last few weeks, but was not concerned.
Question 1.
What would your differential diagnoses be?
- Endocarditis
- Hyperhidrosis
- Upper respiratory tract infection
- Phaeochromocytoma
- Tuberculosis
- Hyperthyroidism
- Endocarditis
- Hyperhidrosis
- Upper respiratory tract infection
- Phaeochromocytoma
- Tuberculosis
- Hyperthyroidism
Question 2.
Which clinical signs or symptoms are making you suspicious?
- History of cough
- Tall stature
- Low weight
- Sweating
- Tachycardia
- Family foreign travel
- Geographical area
- Lethargy
- Doing well at school
- Family history of thyroid disease
- Tuberculosis risk
- Family recent foreign travel
- Chickenpox history
- Tall stature
- Sweating
- Tachycardia
- Family history of thyroid disease
Question 3.
Which laboratory tests and investigations do you are think are needed to reach your definitive diagnosis?
- Sputum sample
- Naso-pharyngeal aspirate
- Lung spirometry
- Stool sample
- Urine sample
- Blood cultures
- Chest X-ray
- ECG (electrocardiogram)
- Full blood count (FBC)
- C-reactive protein (CRP)
- Urea & electrolytes (U&E)
- Liver function tests (LFT)
- ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate)
- 24 hr urine collection for catecholamines
- Thyroid function tests
- Thyroid ultrasound
- Mantoux test
Chest X-ray. ECG (electrocardiogram). Full blood count (FBC). C-reactive protein (CRP). Urea & electrolytes (U&E). Liver function tests (LFT). ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate). 24 hr urine collection for catecholamines. Thyroid function tests. Thyroid ultrasound. Mantoux test
Testing
| Investigation and rationale | Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chest X-ray To look for evidence of tuberculosis: consolidation in upper lobes of the lung, because of history of cough |
Clear | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Electrocardiogram To explore cause for tachycardia, and signs of electrical activity in the heart |
Normal, with slight tachycardia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bloods: FBC, U&E, LFT, CRP, ESR To rule out signs of infection, anaemia, renal disease, liver disease, and raised ESR as seen in endocarditis |
All within normal limits
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mantoux Tuberculin skin test for identifying M. tuberculosis infection |
Negative |
Further endocrine investigations
| Investigation and rationale | Result |
|---|---|
| Thyroid function tests To look for abnormal levels of thyroid hormones |
Abnormal thyroid function test results
Free T4 26.7 pmol/L 10.5-24.5 |
| Thyroid ultrasound To look for diffuse thyroid enlargement |
Enlarged thyroid, but no focal nodules |
| Urinary collection for catecholamines To rule out excess catecholamine release from a pharchromocytoma |
Within normal limits (Priesemann et al. 2006) |
Question 4.
Which diagnoses are confirmed or refuted?
- Endocarditis
- Upper respiratory tract infection
- Hyperhidrosis
- Phaeochromocytoma
- Tuberculosis
- Hyperthyroidism
Hyperthyroidism
Question 5.
Which further blood test could be performed to further refine the diagnosis?
- Thyrotrophin-releasing hormone (TRH) test
- Combined insulin tolerance/TRH/gonadotrophin-releasing hormone test
- Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) receptor antibodies
Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) receptor antibodies
Results
TSH receptor antibodies 0.84 miU/L (normal range 0.0–0.4)
Consistent with Graves’ disease
Management and follow-up
Referral made to the paediatric endocrinology services for management
Question 6.
What is your management plan and in what order would you do this?
- Commence antithyroid drug, carbimazole
- Refer to nurse-led paediatric endocrine clinic
- Refer for radioactive Iodine therapy
- Refer to surgical team for thyroidectomy
- Commence antithyroid drug, carbimazole
- Refer to nurse-led paediatric endocrine clinic
- Refer for radioactive Iodine therapy
- Refer to surgical team for thyroidectomy
How can raised levels of TSH receptor antibodies manifest clinically? What else do increased thyroid hormones do?
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Increased levels can stimulate alpha and beta adrenergic receptors in the nervous system. This leads to increased catecholamine release, which results in tachycardia and sweating. Excess thyroid hormones influence epiphyseal maturation, therefore resulting in advanced growth.
Conclusion
Shared care was planned with the patient’s GP, for them to repeat prescriptions of carbimazole, 5 mg once daily. A further outpatient appointment was offered for 2 weeks’ time with repeat thyroid function test. Parental understanding needed to be ensured, so a referral was made to the nurse-led thyroid clinic for further education and support.
No treatment was needed for the cough, which self-resolved.
This case shows that thyroid symptoms can be subtle and easily missed. It underlines the importance of detailed history-taking and clinical examination, and shows that sometimes the presenting complaint can be misleading.
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