Sonography of Hashimoto's thyroiditis

✍ Scribed by Nobushige Hayashi; Nagara Tamaki; Jugji Konishi; Yoshiharu Yonekura; Michio Senda; Kanji Kaeagi; Kazutaka Yamamoto; Yasuhiro Iida; Takashi Misaki; Keigo Endo; Kanji Torizuka; Toru Mori

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 363 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0091-2751
• DOI: 10.1002/jcu.1870140208

✦ Synopsis

Fifty-three untreated patients with histologically confirmed Hashimoto's thyroiditis were divided into two groups according to the echogenicity of the thyroid. In 25 cases, the echogenicity of the thyroid was almost the same as or less than that of the adjacent muscles. Such cases were classified as group A. The other 28 cases were classified as group B. Mean T4 levels in group A were significantly lower than those in group B. In addition, the cases in group A had abnormally low TI and abnormally high TSH more frequently than those in group B. In all cases in group A, there was severe degeneration and disappearance of thyroid follicles, whereas in most of the cases in group B, follicles of normal size were generally seen. Hypoechogenicity of the thyroid is a sign suggesting hypothyroidism and severe follicular degeneration. Indexing Words: Thyroid sonography . Real-time sonography -Hashimoto's thyroiditis * Tissue characterization Although sonography is widely used for the evaluation of thyroid nodules, its use in diffuse thyroid diseases still seems to be limited.

Hashimoto's thyroiditis is one of the most common causes of diffuse thyroid disease. Treatment for this disease is required when the goiter becomes very large or when the patient is in the hypothyroid state.' It has been reported that the echogenicity of the thyroid decreases in cases with Hashimoto's thyroid it is.*^^ However, no precise evaluation of the echogenicity of the thyroid in this disease has been reported.

In the present study, we classified Hashimoto's thyroiditis according to the echogenicity of the thyroid. This article describes how the echogenicity of Hashimoto's thyroiditis is related to thyroid function and histopathologic findings.