Struma Lymphomatosa (Hashimoto's Thyroiditis) and Related Thyroidal Disorders*

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

A clinicopathologic study has been made of 605 cases of thyroiditis of the “Hashimoto” type seen during a 27-year period at the Mayo Clinic. The lesions were divided on a morphologic basis into diffuse thyroiditis (188 cases), thyroiditis with “hyperplastic” epithelium (57 cases) and focal thyroiditis (360 cases). Four histologic subgroups of diffuse thyroiditis were observed, namely, those with extensive epithelial destruction (29 cases), those with oxyphilic epithelium (36 cases), those with varied epithelial changes (106 cases) and those with severe lymphoid infiltration or associated lymphosarcoma (17 cases). These subgroups, as a whole, represent an advanced stage of the disease process. Clinical and laboratory data are provided for these arbitrarily chosen groups, as well as results of thyroidal function studies in a limited number of cases in each category. These 605 cases included 18 cases of associated carcinoma and 12 cases of associated lymphosarcoma. All the carcinomas, both large and small, were papillary and of low malignancy but showed definite invasion of adjacent parenchyma.