Morphological evaluation of non neoplastic lesions of the thyroid gland

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to see the frequency of non neoplastic lesions of thyroid glands in patients who underwent thyroid surgery at Mayo hospital, Lahore. It was a descriptive cross sectional study. It was a retrospective and prospective study commencing from Ist July 1999 to 30th June 2002 and was conducted at Pathology Department King Edward Medical University, Lahore. All thyroid samples submitted and reported at the Department of Pathology, King Edward Medical University, Lahore during a three year period commencing from Ist July 1999 to 30th June 2002 were included in this study. Out of the total number of 1136 thyroid surgical specimens, 855 specimens [75.26%] were shown to comprise of non-neoplastic lesions and were more common in females [77.2%] as compared to males [22.8%] giving a male to female ratio of 13.4. Regarding non neoplastic lesions maximum comprised of diffuse[74%] and multi nodular goiters [16%]. Others consisted of inflammatory conditions [5%], hyperplastic nodules[4%] and simple colloid filled cysts 1%. Inflammatory conditions included Hashimotos' thyroiditis [67.3%] deQuervain's thyroiditis [granulomatous thyroiditis] [16.3%], Lymphocytic thyroiditis [11.7%], and Riedel's thyroiditis[4.7%]. Non neoplastic thyroid lesions are more common than neoplastic lesions, especially in females. The frequency of diffuse colloid goiter was very high, while among inflammatory lesions Hashimotos' thyroiditis was the commonest lesion. Most of the cases of hypothyroidism were associated with iodine deficiency