CONSDERING the widespread interest in myxedema, the general pathological picture has been little understood. In the report on myxedema published by the London Clinical Society in 1888, a series of 20 autopsies was recorded (1). The report was chiefly concerned with the structural changes in the thyroid gland itself and in the pathology of skin and subcutaneous tissues. It was remarked, however, that interstitial changes in the internal organs were not infrequent. Especially emphasized were features closely resembling an interstitial nephritis which the committee was unwilling to regard as a consequence of hypothyroidism. The heart, examined in 9 of the 20 cases, was considered abnormal in only 2, one of which exhibited an early stage of interstitial myocarditis and the other a comparatively advanced stage of the same process. Some thickening of the adventitia of arterioles was also noted. Since 1891, when Murray discovered that myxedema could be cured by the use of thyroid, autopsies have been infrequent and many of those which have been reported have failed to mention the state of all the organs.
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Foster et al. (1944) studied this question.