Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis is an autoimmune pathology affecting 5% of the population. Treatment is most often medical based on hormone treatment. Sometimes thyroiditis will be associated with benign or malignant nodular pathologies requiring the use of surgery. The objective of this study is to describe the diagnostic, therapeutic and evolutionary features of this entity.

Materials and methods: It is a retrospective study bringing 28 cases of chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis collected over a period of 15 years.

Results: The average age of our patients was 44 years (23 to 70 years) with a clear female predominance (26 women and 2 men). Anterior cervical swelling was the reason for consultation in all cases, associated with dysphagia in 4 patients and dyspnea in 2 patients. Cervical ultrasound, performed in all patients revealed a multinodular goiter in 53% of the cases, an isolated nodule in 42% of the cases and an appearance of thyroiditis in 0.3% of the cases. Thyroid scintigraphy performed in 3 patients, objectified a hetero-nodular goiter in 9 cases and a cold nodule in 4 cases. Hypothyroidism was noted in 6 patients. All the patients were operated, having had a lobo-isthmectomy in 36% of the cases and a total thyroidectomy in 64% of the cases. The final histological examination showed Hashimoto thyroiditis in 14 patients, lymphocytic thyroiditis associated with an adenoma in 8 patients, a multinodular goiter in 4 patients, a papillary carcinoma in one case and a lymphoma in one case.

Conclusion: The frequency of the lymphocytic thyroiditis association with a multinodular goiter, an adenoma, a thyroid cancer has prompted several etiopathogenic studies in order to clarify the peculiarities of this coexistence.