Single lobe disease in endemic goitre

ABSTRACT

To describe the clinical, volumetric and cytological features of the contra lateral lobe in a series of patients with long standing unilateral endemic goitre. This study included 60 patients from the west of Sudan with clinically detectable and long standing unilateral simple endemic goitre that required surgery, with the simultaneous exploration of the contra lateral lobe. Out of 60 patients with unilateral goitre, 50 [83%] were found to have the disease on the ipsilateral lobe only [monolobar goitre]. The contra lateral lobe in these 50 patients showed normal size with nodularity. 20 patients with monolobar disease had intra-operative fine needle aspiration cytology [FNAC], of which 16 patients showed normal thyroid tissue. All patients with monolobar disease had lobectomy. Post-operatively they continued to have normal blood levels of T3, T4 and TSH. We report a series of patients with endemic goitre who had advanced forms of the disease that affect only one lobe in the presence of a structurally and functionally normal contra lateral lobe