Pendred syndrome

Pendred syndrome is a genetic disorder that combines congenital bilateral sensorineural hearing loss with goitre, an enlargement of the thyroid gland, in which thyroid function is either normal or only mildly underactive. The condition is named after Vaughan Pendred, the British doctor who first described it in an Irish family living in Durham in 1896. There is no specific treatment for the syndrome itself. Care is supportive for the hearing loss, and thyroid hormone supplementation is given where the person develops hypothyroidism. Pendred syndrome is a relatively common cause of inherited deafness, accounting for an estimated 7.5 percent to 15 percent of all cases of congenital deafness.