Details

GC.10227

Thyroid. gland - exophthalmic goitre. From a female aged 22 years. After a preliminary course of iodine, a partial thyreoidectomy was carried-out under cyclopropane anaesthesia. The thyroid was about four times the normal size and of the ring type, the lateral lobes meeting in the mid-line behind the pharynx. About five-sixths of the gland was removed, a portion being left at each hilum. Recovery was satisfactory. The thyroid. is diffusely enlarged, being about four times the normal size. The lateral lobes which extended upwards behind the pharynx almost meet in the mid-line. The surface is even and covered with a normal capsule except where the lateral lobes have been severed. from the retained hilar tissue and here the surface reveals the lobular structure of the gland. At the sites of the incisions made after fixation of the gland the tissue is seem to be pale and of a fine texture, the vesicles being barely detectable to the naked eye. Photomicrographs show epithelial hyperplasia and. hypertrophy of exophthalmic goitre. There is evidence of involutionary changes due to iodine therapy - the large vesicles contain moderately well stained colloid, the papillary projections are diminishing and. the gland cells are reverting from the columnar to the cuboidal shape.