Thyroid Gland Basics: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

The thyroid gland is the largest and one of the most important endocrine glands in the body. It plays an important role in maintaining body metabolism and it can be affected by various disorders, for instance, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, goiter, inflammations, and tumors. Therefore, comprehensive knowledge of thyroid gland basics (embryogenesis, histology, gross anatomy and physiology) is regarded as vital to every physician for the identification and management of these different conditions, for surgeons for the outcomes of thyroid surgery, for pathologists during their work in histopathological examination as well as forensic pathologists for identification of potential thyroid-related deaths and accidental autopsy findings.