SUMMARY
Short bowel syndrome (SBS) is the leading cause of
intestinal failure in
children, a condition of absence of sufficient bowel to meet the nutritional and metabolic
needs of a growing individual. The
treatment of
patients in this situation is based on the
association of parenteral and
enteral nutrition for prolonged periods of
time until intestinal
rehabilitation occurs with complete
enteral nutrition autonomy. Six consecutive cases of
children with SBS (residual intestinal length of 5 cm to 75 cm) were managed with this program and were diagnosed with associated
hypothyroidism during the
treatment (ages at the
diagnosis 5 months to 12 years). All
patients were successfully treated with oral
hormone reposition
therapy and in one
patient, the replacement was performed via rectal
enemas due to a complete absence of small bowel. Although
iodine deficiency associated to long-term
parenteral nutrition is a well-known condition, this is the first
report in the
literature about an expressive number of
patients with
hypothyroidism detected in
patients with SBS during the prolonged
treatment for intestinal
rehabilitation.