Premium
Patterns of human thyroid parenchymal reaction following low‐dose childhood irradiation
Author(s) -
Spitalnik Patrice F.,
Straus Francis H.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(197803)41:3<1098::aid-cncr2820410344>3.0.co;2-#
Subject(s) - medicine , thyroid , parenchyma , pathology , hyperplasia , follicular hyperplasia , nodule (geology) , thyroiditis , thyroid nodules , fibrosis , autopsy , thyroid carcinoma , paleontology , biology
Microscopic changes in the thyroids of 68 patients who had received low‐dose childhood irradiation to the head and neck and who presented with palpable thyroid abnormalities culminating in surgery are compared to 34 control thyroids obtained from age‐ and sex‐matched autopsy cases. Eighty‐eight percent of irradiated thyroids showed moderate to severe focal hyperplasia, 51% contained single or multiple adenomas or adenomatous hyperplastic nodules, 68% exhibited chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis, 51% revealed colloid nodules, 42% presented with oxyphile change, 25% had mild fibrosis and 59% contained well‐differentiated papillary, follicular or mixed thyroid carcinoma averaging 1.6 cm in diameter. Three small carcinomas were of the sclerosing type. The non irradiated thyroids showed 32% colloid nodule formation, 17% focal hyperplasia, 6% adenomatous hyperplasia and no identifiable carcinomas. Several nonspecific histologic abnormalities are now recognized as following low‐dose radiation to the thyroid, the most important being focal hyperplasia, which may represent a pre‐malignant change in thyroid parenchyma.