Calculate thyroid volume - how does it work?

When measuring thyroid size at the doctor's office, the length, width and depth are measured for each thyroid lobe. With these values, the volume of each thyroid lobe is first calculated individually by multiplying the length, width and depth together and then dividing the result of this by two.
The volumes of the two thyroid lobes are then added together to give the total thyroid volume.

Evaluate thyroid volume

The total volume of the thyroid gland is set in relation to certain guideline values for evaluation. These usually only specify that the thyroid gland must not be larger than 25ml in men and 18ml in women. Some doctors see a possible lower limit for the thyroid volume of an adult at about 10ml. However, there are cases that still have completely normal thyroid function with 8ml. Others already have hypothyroidism with 20ml. Therefore, the size of the thyroid gland alone is not meaningful!

Another approach for determining the minimum size of the thyroid gland refers to a dependence on body weight. With this approach, the minimum size is calculated by multiplying the body weight by 0.12. If you enter your weight in our calculator, this formula will be used to calculate the minimum size.