Library · Disease
Thyroiditis
Make it clearer
Thyroiditis means inflammation of the thyroid, the gland in the neck that makes thyroid hormone. The most common cause is an autoimmune disease, meaning one in which the body's defenses attack its own tissue. Depending on what happens to the gland, there can be too much hormone or too little, and that change can be temporary or permanent.
It is sorted into three groups by how it starts and by what causes it. The acute form comes from a bacterial infection. The subacute form, also called granulomatous, is caused by viruses. And the chronic form includes Hashimoto thyroiditis, postpartum thyroiditis, which appears after a pregnancy, and the kinds some medicines bring on.
It is rare for a bacterium to infect the thyroid, and there is an anatomical reason: the gland is encapsulated, meaning wrapped in a covering of its own, like a sealed parcel, and it has a rich blood supply and abundant lymphatic drainage. In the United States, of all the forms of thyroiditis, Hashimoto is the most common cause of hypothyroidism.
In brief
Thyroiditis means inflammation of the thyroid; its most common cause is autoimmune, and it can produce transient or permanent hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism.
It is classified as acute, subacute, or chronic: acute is caused by a bacterium, subacute or granulomatous by a virus, and chronic includes Hashimoto, postpartum and drug-induced thyroiditis.
Thyroid infection is rare because the gland is encapsulated and richly supplied with blood, with abundant lymphatic drainage; in the United States Hashimoto is the leading cause of hypothyroidism.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingThyroiditis, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated