Goitre
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A goitre or goiter (Latin: struma), also called a bronchocele, is a swelling in the neck (just below Adam's apple or larynx) due to an enlarged thyroid gland .The thyroid gland's enlargement usually occurs due to deficiency of iodine.
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Classification [change]
They are classified in different ways:
- A "diffuse goitre" is a goitre that has spread through all of the thyroid (and can be a "simple goitre", or a "multinodular goitre").
- "Toxic goitre" refers to goitre with hyperthyroidism. These most commonly due to Graves disease, but can be caused by inflammation or a multinodular goitre.
- "Non toxic goitre" (associated with normal or low thyroid levels) refers to all other types (such as that caused by lithium or certain other autoimmune diseases).
Causes [change]
Other causes are:
- Thyroid cancer
- Iodine deficiency
- Hashimoto's thyroiditis (E06.3)
- Graves-Basedow disease (E05.0)
- inborn errors of thyroid hormone synthesis, causing congenital hypothyroidism (E03.0)
- Thyroiditis (acute, chronic) (E06)
- Side-effects of pharmacological therapy (E03.2)
New research indicates that there may be a tendency to inherit an increased vulnerability to goitre.
Famous goitre sufferers [change]
- President George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara Bush both were diagnosed with Graves disease and enlarged thyroid glands, within 2 years of each other. In the president's case, the disease caused hyperthyroidism and cardiac dysrhythmia [1]
- Kim Il-sung
References [change]
- ↑ The Health and Medical History of President George Bush DoctorZebra.com. 8 August 2004. Retrieved 8 October 2006.
Other websites [change]
- National Health Services, UK
- Network for Sustained Elimination of Iodine Deficiency
- Network for Sustained Elimination of Iodine Deficiency - alternate site at Emory University's School of Public Health
