Pregnancy Occurring in Cretinism and in Juvenile and Adult Myxedema

THE IDEA prevails that pregnancy does not occur in women with cretinism or myxedema before thyroid therapy. The reports in the literature, on the other hand, agree that pregnancy can occur but that it is extremely rare. Rolleston (1) was not certain that cretins could become pregnant until after thyroid medication and thought that pregnancy in myxedema without treatment was rare. Goldzieher (2) said that myxedematous women can become pregnant, but that it is exceptional. Herrgott (3) was of the opinion that pregnancy occurred only in the attenuated forms of myxedema. We have been able to find in the literature reports of only 7 cases of adult myxedema and 3 cases of cretinism or juvenile myxedema in which pregnancy occurred before thyroid medication. During the past 12 years we have observed 3 cases of adult myxedema, 2 of juvenile myxedema and 1 of cretinism in which pregnancy occurred after the onset of the disease and before thyroid therapy.