Risk profile analysis and complications after surgery for autoimmune thyroid disease.

BACKGROUND: Surgical approaches to autoimmune thyroid disease are currently hampered by concerns over postoperative complications. Risk profiles and incidences of postoperative complications have not been investigated systematically, and studies with sufficient power to show valid data have not been performed. METHODS: A prospective multicentre European study was conducted between July 2010 and December 2012. Questionnaires were used to collect data prospectively on patients who had surgery for autoimmune thyroid disease and the findings were compared with those of patients undergoing surgery for multinodular goitre. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate risk factors for thyroid surgery-specific complications, transient and permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) palsy and hypoparathyroidism. RESULTS: Data were available for 22 011 patients, of whom 18 955 were eligible for analysis (2488 who had surgery for autoimmune thyroid disease and 16 467 for multinodular goitre). Surgery for multinodular goitre and that for autoimmune thyroid disease did not differ significantly with regard to general complications. With regard to thyroid surgery-specific complications, the rate of temporary and permanent vocal cord palsy ranged from 2·7 to 6·7 per cent (P = 0·623) and from 0·0 to 1·4 per cent (P = 0·600) respectively, whereas the range for temporary and permanent hypoparathyroidism was 12·9 to 20·0 per cent (P < 0·001) and 0·0 to 7·0 per cent (P < 0·001) respectively. In logistic regression analysis of transient and permanent vocal cord palsy, autoimmune thyroid disease was not an independent risk factor. Autoimmune thyroid disease, extent of thyroid resection, number of identified parathyroid glands and no autotransplantation were identified as independent risk factors for both transient and permanent hypoparathyroidism. CONCLUSION: Surgery for autoimmune thyroid disease is safe in comparison with surgery for multinodular goitre in terms of general complications and RLN palsy. To avoid the increased risk of postoperative hypoparathyroidism, special attention needs to be paid to the parathyroid glands.

Granulomatous Thyroiditis: A Case Report and Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: Granulomatous disease in the thyroid gland has been linked to viral, bacterial and autoimmune etiologies. The most common granulomatous disease of the thyroid is subacute granulomatous thyroiditis, which is presumed to have a viral or post-viral inflammatory cause. Bacterial etiologies include tuberculosis, actinomycosis, and nocardiosis, but are extremely rare. Disseminated actinomycosis and nocardiosis more commonly affect organ-transplant patients with the highest susceptibility within the first year after transplant surgery. CASE: A 45-year-old African American male, who received his third kidney transplant for renal failure secondary to Alport Syndrome, presented with numerous subcutaneous nodules and diffuse muscle pain in the neck. Further workup revealed bilateral nodularity of the thyroid. Fine needle aspiration of these nodules demonstrated suppurative granulomatous thyroiditis. Subsequent right thyroid lobectomy showed granulomatous thyroiditis with filamentous micro-organisms, morphologically resembling Nocardia or Actinomyces. CONCLUSION: Disseminated granulomatous disease presenting in the thyroid is very rare, and typically afflicts immune-compromised patients. The overall clinical, cytologic and histologic picture of this patient strongly points to an infectious etiology, likely Nocardia, in the setting of recent organ transplantation within the last year.

de Quervain's thyroiditis: A review of experience with surgery.

BACKGROUND: de Quervain's thyroiditis is an inflammatory condition of the thyroid mostly treated medically, rarely requiring surgical treatment. We intend to review the surgical experience with de Quervain's thyroiditis at a tertiary cancer center over a period of 22years. METHODS: A retrospective review of medical records from 1992 to 2014 at a tertiary cancer center was performed and all patients with a histopathological diagnosis of de Quervain's thyroiditis were included. RESULTS: Ten patients with a histopathological diagnosis of de Quervain's thyroiditis were included in the study. One patient in the study presented with dysphagia due to the goiter. The remaining patients presented with thyroid nodules. None presented with typical symptoms of the disease. Seven of the ten patients that had been evaluated for a goiter at an outside facility underwent fine needle aspiration cytology. Of the seven patients, one patient was suspected to have medullary carcinoma of the thyroid, two had follicular neoplasia, and the others had indeterminate nodules. Eight of the ten patients underwent surgery for suspected malignancy, with eight receiving a total thyroidectomy and two patients getting a thyroid lobectomy with isthmusectomy. Two patients had an abnormally hard gland to palpate during surgery with the others not having any suspicious findings. Seven of the ten of the patients had lymph node sampling from level 6 and all were benign on final pathology. The mean duration of post-operative follow-up was 15months. There was no morbidity associated with surgery in any of these patients with eight of the ten patients requiring thyroid hormone replacement. None of the patients needed further neck surgery for thyroid disease. CONCLUSION: de Quervain's thyroiditis is an inflammatory condition of the thyroid that is rarely treated surgically. However when presentation is atypical and the FNAC is inconclusive or is suspicious for a malignancy, patients receive surgery putting them at a risk for morbidity. Good clinical assessment with combined use of ultrasound with FNAC especially read by an experienced cytopathologist has the potential to reduce unnecessary operative intervention.

Co-occurrence of subacute granulomatous thyroiditis and papillary microcarcinoma.

Subacute thyroiditis, which is most commonly observed after a viral infection and may heal spontaneously, is an inflammatory thyroid disease. The co-occurrence of subacute thyroiditis and papillary carcinoma is quite rare. A 58-year-old male patient who applied to our hospital with the complaints of sore throat and neck swelling was performed total thyroidectomy following physical examination, ultrasound, and laboratory analysis. In histopathological examination, many granuloma structures were observed in both lobes, and a papillary microcarcinoma focus of 2 mm in diameter was seen in the left lobe. The co-occurrence of subacute thyroiditis and papillary carcinoma was deemed worthy of presentation as it is rarely observed.

Thyroid: an unusual hideout for sarcoidosis.

OBJECTIVE: To present a case of dysphagia secondary to a progressively increasing nontoxic multinodular goiter caused by sarcoidosis. METHODS: We summarize the clinical presentation and pertinent pathology in a patient with sarcoidosis involving the thyroid gland. A review of literature regarding this topic is also presented. RESULTS: A 54-year-old man was noted to have asymptomatic nontoxic thyromegaly. Biopsy of right thyroid nodule was benign while the biopsy from the isthmus nodule was nondiagnostic. He presented with acute onset of dysphagia two months later and the work-up for gastrointestinal causes was negative. Chest imaging showed left-sided lymphadenopathy, and biopsy of a lymph node showed sarcoidosis. Two years after the initial presentation a repeat biopsy of the isthmus nodule was again reported as nondiagnostic. Because he had persistent dysphagia, he underwent total thyroidectomy with resolution of dysphagia. Histopathological examination of the thyroid revealed non necrotizing granulomas consistent with sarcoidosis. CONCLUSION: This case brings to light this uncommon etiology of a nontoxic multinodular goiter. Involvement of the thyroid gland by sarcoidosis is very rare. It has been reported in 4.2 to 4.6% of patients with sarcoidosis. In patients with pulmonary or extrapulmonary sarcoidosis and associated thyromegaly, possible involvement of the thyroid by this process should be considered.

What might cause pain in the thyroid gland? Report of a patient with subacute thyroiditis of atypical presentation.

Subacute granulomatous thyroiditis (SAT), also known as de Quervain's thyroiditis or painful subacute thyroiditis, is the commonest thyroid condition responsible for neck tenderness. Other causes of pain in the thyroid gland should be taken into consideration during differential diagnosis, especially when a patient presents with misleading or equivocal signs and symptoms. We report the case of a 39 year-old woman diagnosed as having SAT whose clinical, biochemical and radiological presentation varied significantly from the common SAT manifestation. A tentative diagnosis of SAT was made based on the presented symptoms, ultrasonography and fine-needle biopsy results. However, biochemical analysis suggested neither inflammatory process nor the presence of thyrotoxicosis. Moreover, technetium scan of the thyroid revealed normal uptake of the isotope and there was neither clinical nor ultasonographic response for corticosteroids. The patient's symptoms, despite being prescribed typical treatment, gradually deteriorated and the pain became increasingly debilitating. Eventually, the patient underwent total thyroidectomy. As a result, she has become free of symptoms, but the macroscopic picture of thyroid gland, noted during the operation, gave a suspicion of neoplastic process. Nevertheless, histological study of flow samples confirmed the tentative diagnosis of de Quervain's thyroiditis, despite all previous findings that were not suggestive of it. This report confirms the likelihood that SAT can present atypically. Additionally, it indicates that surgical treatment may be considered in patients with severe, debilitating, persistent thyroid gland pain connected with SAT clinical course.

Could Riedel's thyroiditis be subacute thyroiditis? A case report.

Our purpose in this paper is to make a case for the need to question whether Riedel's thyroiditis is in fact a rare variety of subacute thyroiditis. Total thyroidectomy was performed on a patient with a huge thyroid mass. The histopathological diagnosis was Riedel's thyroiditis with classical lymphoplasmacytic infiltration destroying thyroid tissue and invading perithyroidal soft tissue. However, in addition, histopathology showed epithelioid granulomas containing multinuclear giant cells. The existence of these giant cells led us to place this case somewhere between Hashimoto's thyroiditis and subacute thyroiditis (de Quervain's). Since giant cells are seen in the histopathology of subacute thyroiditis, we propose that the possibility of Riedel's thyroiditis being a form of subacute thyroiditis be observed and studied.

Riedel's thyroiditis in a patient with recurrent subacute thyroiditis: a case report and review of the literature.

Riedel's thyroiditis is a rare form of chronic thyroiditis, characterised by a fibroinflammatory process that partially destroys the thyroid and often involves surrounding tissues. The relationship of Riedel's thyroiditis to other forms of thyroiditis is not clear. A case of Riedel's thyroiditis in a 51-year-old woman presenting with symptoms of subacute thyroiditis, is reported. She was diagnosed with subacute thyroiditis based on clinical manifestation and laboratory results. She was treated with glucocorticoids for six weeks, and then followed-up for 12 months. Three years later, she visited with tenderness and enlargement of thyroid mass, and laboratory and radiology findings suggested that she had a malignant thyroid tumor as well as subacute thyroiditis. After thyroidectomy, histopathologic findings showed that she had Riedel's thyroiditis in the presence of subacute thyroiditis. Until now, few cases of Riedel's thyroiditis in patients with a history of subacute thyroiditis have been reported in the literature. Although the etiology of Riedel's thyroiditis is unknown, it may develop in the course of subacute thyroiditis.

[Hashimoto and de Quervain thyroiditis]. / Tireoidity Khashimoto i de Kervena

117 thyroids from patients with autoimmune and nonautoimmune thyroiditis were investigated. The conclusion about morphofunctional state of the thyroids from patients with autoimmune and nonautoimmune thyroiditis were made on the basis of macroscopical, histological, morphometrical and immunohistochemical findings.

de Quervain's thyroiditis: surgical experience.

OBJECTIVE: To review a 35-year experience with management of de Quervain's thyroiditis (dQT), an uncommon inflammatory process of the thyroid gland that is usually treated medically and seldom necessitates surgical intervention. METHODS: A retrospective review was performed of medical records of patients with dQT treated surgically at a single institution between 1966 and 2000. The study group consisted of 11 women and 6 men (mean age, 50 years; range, 23 to 66). All pathology specimens were reviewed. RESULTS: Of the 17 study patients, 14 had surgical treatment before 1980. Typical symptoms of dQT, including pain and tenderness of the thyroid gland, occurred in eight patients, and two had dysphagia from an enlarged thyroid gland. Seven patients were asymptomatic. The indications for operation were a clinically indeterminate thyroid nodule (N = 14), dysphagia (N = 2), and hyperthyroidism with nodular goiter (N = 1). Fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) was performed in only two patients; biopsy findings were suspicious for a malignant lesion in one patient, and nondiagnostic in the other patient. Thyroid function tests (N = 14) revealed that 12 patients were euthyroid and 2 had hyperthyroidism. Surgical treatment consisted of unilateral lobectomy in 4 patients, near-total thyroidectomy in 12, and total thyroidectomy in 1. Temporary vocal cord palsy and temporary hypocalcemia occurred in one patient each. Fourteen patients (mean follow-up, 204 months) required long-term thyroid replacement therapy. No patient required further thyroid surgical intervention or had further thyroid disease. CONCLUSION: Although surgical intervention is not the primary treatment for dQT, when resection is performed it can be done safely and with low associated morbidity. In the modern era, with routine use of FNAB, fewer patients with this rare entity will require surgical exploration. Patients with atypical features and ones with euthyroidism are more likely candidates than others for surgical intervention.

[Acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy associated with Graves-Basedow's disease]. / Epiteliopatía pigmentaria placoide multifocal posterior aguda asociada a enfermedad de Graves-Basedow.

CLINICAL CASE: We present a case of a 40-years-old woman with an acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy (APMPPE) associated with recent instauration hyperthyroidism symptoms. A Graves' disease was diagnosed and the patient was initially controlled with antithyroid drugs. The epitheliopathy evolution was relatively favourable without relapse. Two years later a thyroidectomy was performed. DISCUSSION: We have not found in the literature any APMPPE case associated with Graves' disease. We only found an APMPPE case associated with a subacute thyroiditis. Little is known about the APMPPE causes, it could be that placoid epitheliopathy and Graves' disease had a common autoimmune origin. We can not forget that our finding could be only a matter of chance.