[Incidence of goiter and tracheal constriction among outpatients of a Munich hospital (author's transl)].

With a goiter incidence of 55%, 6.5% of the 495 patients examined showed constriction of half or more of the trachea, most frequently in the 10% of larger goiters in stages II and III. But also in the 45% of the stage I goiters occurring in the Munich ambulant patients, distinct tracheal constriction is already found, and in stage lb 9% of the stenoses involved half of the lumen. Because of the high goiter rate and the often already considerable tracheal stenoses even in the smaller goiters, the earliest possible diagnosis and treatment of small goiters with iodized salt or thyroid hormones should follow as a consequence, after exclusion of autonomic adenomata, thyrotoxicosis, cold nodules and malignant struma. The prophylaxis of struma with fully iodized salt is referred to.