Severe hypothyroidism caused by hepatic hemangioendothelioma in an infant of a diabetic mother.

Hemangioendotheliomas can express type 3 iodothyronine deiodinase and cause severe hypothyroidism. The risk of congenital malformations such as vertebral and cardiac abnormalities in infants of diabetic mothers is higher than in babies of healthy women. Here we report an infant of a diabetic mother with hypothyroidism caused by liver hemangioendothelioma. Consumptive hypothyroidism should be an indicator to search for a vascular tumor in infants. Supranormal doses of L-thyroxine might be required for normalization of thyroid function until the tumor involutes or is resected. Copyright (c) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel.