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Hashimoto thyroiditis
Make it clearer
Hashimoto thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease of the thyroid, the gland in the neck that makes thyroid hormone. Autoimmune means that the body's own defenses attack one of its own tissues. Here the targets are the follicular cells, the very ones that produce and store that hormone. In developed countries, Hashimoto thyroiditis is the most common cause of hypothyroidism, that is, of running short of thyroid hormone.
The attack comes by two routes at once: antibodies aimed at the thyroid, and T lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell. The ones that are cytotoxic, meaning able to kill cells, get into the gland and finish off the follicular cells. Over time the thyroid turns fibrous, that is, filled with scar tissue.
There is something surprising: a small number of people start out the other way around, with hyperthyroidism, with hormone to spare. The likely reason is that when the compartments where the hormone is stored break open, their contents spill out first and reach the blood all at once.
In brief
Hashimoto thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease that destroys the follicular cells of the thyroid and is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in developed countries.
Antithyroid antibodies form and T lymphocytes are activated; cytotoxic cells infiltrate the gland and destroy the follicular cells, with progressive fibrosis.
A small proportion of patients start with hyperthyroidism, probably because the destruction of those cells releases the stored thyroid hormone.
When the compartments where the hormone is stored break open, what was stored spills out first.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingHashimoto Thyroiditis, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated