Goitre
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
A goitre (BrE), or goiter (AmE) (Latin struma), also called a bronchocele, is a swelling in the neck (just below Adam's apple or larynx) due to an enlarged thyroid gland.
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[change] Classification
They are classified in different ways:
- A "diffuse goitre" is a goitre that has spread through all of the thyroid (and can be a "simple goitre", or a "multinodular goitre").
- "Toxic goitre" refers to goitre with hyperthyroidism. These most commonly due to Graves disease, but can be caused by inflammation or a multinodular goitre.
- "Nontoxic goitre" (associated with normal or low thyroid levels) refers to all other types (such as that caused by lithium or certain other autoimmune diseases).
[change] Causes
Other causes are:
- Thyroid cancer
- Iodine deficiency
- Hashimoto's thyroiditis (E06.3)
- Graves-Basedow disease (E05.0)
- inborn errors of thyroid hormone synthesis, causing congenital hypothyroidism (E03.0)
- Thyroiditis (acute, chronic) (E06)
- Side-effects of pharmacological therapy (E03.2)
New research indicates that there may be a tendency to inherit an increased vulnerability to goitre.
[change] Famous goitre sufferers
- President George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara Bush both were diagnosed with Graves disease and enlarged thyroid glands, within 2 years of each other. In the president's case, the disease caused hyperthyroidism and cardiac dysrhythmia [1]
- Kim Il-sung
[change] References
- ↑ The Health and Medical History of President George Bush DoctorZebra.com. 8 August 2004. Retrieved 8 October 2006.
[change] Other websites
- National Health Services, UK
- Network for Sustained Elimination of Iodine Deficiency
- Network for Sustained Elimination of Iodine Deficiency - alternate site at Emory University's School of Public Health