Goiter disease in a nutshell

Abstract

The disease caused by the enlargement and swelling of the thyroid gland is called goiter disease. Environmental and genetic risk factors affect the formation of the goiter disease. There are factors such as iodine deficiency, selenium deficiency, genetics, anemia, smoking and excessive secretion of TSH hormone in the pituitary gland, factors such as age and gender should also be considered in the formation of goiter. Goiter disease is basically examined in two ways; diffuse goiter and nodular goiter. Diffuse goiter, also called simple goiter, is swelling of the thyroid gland. Nodular goiter is the formation of oval masses in the thyroid gland. In both types of goiter, first of all, increases or decreases in free T3-T4 and TSH levels are taken into account by the biochemical methods. In diffuse goiter, drug therapy or, although very rarely, surgical methods are applied. In nodular goiter, benign and malignant determinations are made about the nodule structure by the radiological methods. Radioactive iodine treatment is applied in addition to the surgical methods in nodular goiter. This short review study has touched focuses on the pathogenesis of goiter disease, treatment approaches and different types of goiter and aims to explain them.