The influence of different degrees of chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis on thyroid function after surgery for benign, non-toxic goitre.

Of 220 patients, surgically treated for benign, non-toxic goitre with unilateral procedures during a six-year period, 201 could be followed up, on average, 8 years postoperatively. Twenty-four patients were treated with thyroxine immediately postoperatively ("recurrence prophylaxis"); in the other patients thyroxine was only given in cases of hypothyroidism (significant increase of S-TSH). Occurrence of lymphoid infiltration in the removed lobe was subjectively quantified according to a five point scale. Five of the 15 patients with pronounced inflammation developed hypothyroidism whereas 5 of the 137 patients without inflammation had hypothyroidism (p less than 0.05). There was a significant difference in S-TSH postoperatively between patients with no or, only a slight degree of, chronic inflammation, and patients with pronounced inflammation. This study indicates that histologic grading of lymphocytic infiltration in the thyroid gland may be useful for predicting the risk of postoperative hypothyroidism.