MAYWOOD, IL – Loyola Medicine radiologist Jennifer Lim-Dunham, MD, and colleagues have received the Society for Pediatric Radiology's prestigious Walter E. Berdon Award for best clinical research paper appearing in the journal Pediatric Radiology in 2017.

The award was given during the society's recent annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dr. Lim-Dunham is a professor in Loyola's department of radiology. Her clinical expertise includes diagnostic radiology and radiology imaging. Dr. Lin-Dunham is board certified in diagnostic radiology and pediatric radiology.

The award-winning study found that ultrasound guidelines issued by the American Thyroid Association can reliably identify pediatric patients who should be biopsied for thyroid cancer.

Thyroid cancer is a common cause of cancer in teenagers, and the incidence is increasing for reasons that are unclear. Adolescents have a ten-fold greater incidence than younger children and the disease is five times more common in girls than in boys. The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland at the base of the neck that secretes hormones needed for regulation of growth, development and metabolism. Cancer may occur within lumps in the thyroid called nodules.

The study by Dr. Lim-Dunham and colleagues found that American Thyroid Association guidelines "may provide an appropriate and reproducible method for estimating risk of malignancy for pediatric thyroid nodules."

The study is titled, "Ultrasound risk stratification for malignancy using the 2015 American Thyroid Association Management Guidelines for Children with Thyroid Nodules and Differentiated Thyroid Cancer." Co-authors are Iclal Erdem Toslak, MD, Khalid Alsabban, MD, Amany Aziz, MD, Brendan Martin, PhD, Gokcan Okur, MD, and Katherine C. Longo, MD.

The Society for Pediatric Radiology is dedicated to fostering excellence in pediatric health through imaging and image-guided care.

Loyola Medicine's radiology specialists are nationally recognized for their innovative diagnostic and therapeutic methods. Loyola offers a complete spectrum of imaging services ranging from radiographs and ultrasounds to CT scans, MRIs and nuclear medicine. Our radiologists perform the latest interventional techniques for the vascular, musculoskeletal and nervous systems as well as the abdomen and breast.

About Loyola Medicine

Loyola Medicine, a member of Trinity Health, is a nationally ranked academic, quaternary care system based in Chicago's western suburbs. The three-hospital system includes Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC), Gottlieb Memorial HospitalMacNeal Hospital, as well as convenient locations offering primary care, specialty care and immediate care services from nearly 2,000 physicians throughout Cook, Will and DuPage counties. LUMC is a 547-licensed-bed hospital in Maywood that includes the William G. and Mary A. Ryan Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine, the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, the John L. Keeley, MD, Emergency Department, a Level 1 trauma center, Illinois's largest burn center, the Nancy W. Knowles Orthopaedic Institute, a certified comprehensive stroke centertransplant center and a children’s hospital. Having delivered compassionate care for over 50 years, Loyola also trains the next generation of caregivers through its academic affiliation with Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.   

For more information, visit loyolamedicine.org. You can also follow Loyola Medicine on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or X (formerly known as Twitter).

About Trinity Health

Trinity Health is one of the largest not-for-profit, faith-based health care systems in the nation. It is a family of 127,000 colleagues and more than 38,300 physicians and clinicians caring for diverse communities across 26 states. Nationally recognized for care and experience, the Trinity Health system includes 93 hospitals, 107 continuing care locations, the second largest PACE program in the country, 142 urgent care locations and many other health and well-being services. In fiscal year 2024, the Livonia, Michigan-based health system invested $1.3 billion in its communities in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs. For more information, visit us at www.trinity-health.org, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (formerly known as Twitter).