Hashimoto’s thyroiditis-a tertiary level hospital based study

Abstract

Background: Hashimoto's disease is a chronic, autoimmune form of thyroiditis and is one of the most common causes for hypothyroidism. Many studies have found an association between Hashimoto's thyroiditis and various other thyroid pathologies, including cancers. The objectives of the study were to look for any association between Hashimoto's thyroiditis and other forms of thyroid diseases and to analyse the pattern of patients treated with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted at a tertiary care centre from December 2008 to January 2014. Patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis confirmed by histology were selected as the cases. Their clinical and biochemical data and post-operative histopathological reports were collected and analysed. Results: 300 patients who underwent thyroidectomy were found to have a diagnosis of Hashimoto's thyroiditis. 97.33% of the patients were females. Maximum patients belonged to the 31-40 age group. Of the 300 patients, 61.67% had other associated pathologies. The maximum association was with colloid goiters, followed by adenomas and malignancies. Among the malignancies, 80.65% were papillary cancers while the rest were follicular cancers. There were no cases of other malignancies associated with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Conclusions: Hashimoto's thyroiditis is fairly common in the studied population, mostly among females. It is associated with other thyroid pathologies including differentiated cancers. Lymphoma is not found to be associated with Hashimoto's disease in our population. Hashimoto's thyroiditis thus forms a major share of goiters leading to thyroidectomy in Indian population. However, the decision to operate should be primarily governed by the associated cytology.