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CLINICO-PATHOLOGIC STUDY OF 261 SURGICAL CASES OF SO-CALLED "THYROIDITIS"^*

W. ARTHUR HARLAND, M.B., B.CH. and VIRGINIA KNEELAND FRANTZ, M.D.

The Laboratories of Surgical Pathology of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University and of the Presbyterian Hospital New York, N. Y.

In this study, 261 cases in which the diagnosis of thyroiditis was made were reviewed with regard to their clinical and pathologic features. This represented an incidence of 3.5 per cent of all thyroid operations (7,448) at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York over a 34-year period. These cases were distributed as shown in Table 1.

Acute infectious or suppurative thyroiditis is rare and results from bacterial invasion of the thyroid from another septic focus in the body, usually by way of the blood stream. Pneumococci were isolated directly from the thyroid in 1 of our 2 cases, and this is said to be the most common causative agent (1). The disease is frequently associated with pre-existing goiter. Chronic specific thyroiditis is even more rare. In this series there was 1 case of syphilitic gumma of the thyroid and this responded well to chemotherapy. All cases that had been diagnosed as tuberculosis of the thyroid were reclassified as granulomatous thyroiditis and there were no cases of fungus infection or of parasitic invasion of the thyroid.

^* Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Goiter Association, Chicago, Illinois, May 3–5, 1956.

This article will be included in the bound volume of the 1956 "Transactions of the American Goiter Association" published by Charles C Thomas, Publisher, which will be available early in 1957.

Present address: St. Joseph's Hospital, Chatham, Ontario, Canada.

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