Goiters

This week I decided to research goiters for my pathology blog. I have never seen any one with a goiter, but I have had a few patients tell me that they have has surgery to remove a goiter.

A goiter is an enlargement of the tyroid gland in the throat. The most common cause for this enlargement is from a defect hormone synthesis which causes in increase of the Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). TSH comes from the pituitary gland in the brain. The increase in TSH causes the thyroid to grow. Other cause for a goiter could be malignancy or even a diet deficient of iodine. But the one of the website where I was reading says that this is rare because our diets are sufficient in supplying the iodine we need to prevent this.

Treatment for a goiter can sometimes be taken care of by just taking a pill, which stop the TSH and decrease the size of the thyroid. But as the goiter grows it can begin to cause problems for patients; because it can be compressing structures in the neck, such as the trachea and the esophagus and even some blood vessels. These patients would need to have surgery to remove the goiter to keep it from compressing these organs and causing major damage.