Morphological evaluation of non neoplastic lesions of the thyroid gland

Abstract

Objective: 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. Study design: It was a descriptive cross sectional study. Place and Duration of 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. Materials and methods: 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. Results: 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 1:3.4. 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%). Conclusions: 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.