Antecedentes, diagnóstico, repercusión y prevención del déficit de yodo en la salud humana

thyroid gland has two particular features: the manual physical examination is easy and its function is related to oligoelement, the iodine having a relevant significance in the metabolism of our organism. its deficiency will favor the appearance of diseases known as disorders due to iodine deficit with a negative impact on life of men and women, of animals and of plants. from the clinical point of view it is considered as the leading cause of brain damage in children, hypothyroidism and goitre in the adult, all are preventable and in dependence of the together will of national and international organisms and institutions it is possible to eradicate it with a simple practice, e.g. iodized salt. the diagnostic methods used to assess its deficiency are very useful in the clinical practice. nowadays, the use of echography as an assisting method to carry out the mensuration of the thyroid gland and to define the goitre in zones of iodine sufficiency like ours, will be very useful due its high level of specificity and sensitivity. the aim of present paper is to offer a general panorama of the significance of iodine functions in the organism and its relation to the thyroid gland, its diagnostic methods, the impact, the repercussion and the prevention of disorders due to iodine deficit in human health, as well as the implementation of our national program of salt iodization.