title: Lymphocytic thyroiditis. I. correlation between morphological, immunological and clinical findings.
abstract: Biopsies from the thyroid glands in 32 selected patients with goitre and lymphocytic thyroiditis have been investigated with quantitation of the morphological changes. This permitted a comparison with immunological and clinical findings. The three main elements in the destruction of glandular tissue--lymphocytes, plasma cells and fibrosis varied relatively independently of each other as an expression of the great variation in the appearance of the tissue lesion. Thyroglobulin antibodies showed a correlation to the number of plasma cells, whereas the microsomal thyroid antibodies showed a correlation to the number of lymphocytes. The morphologic changes were independent of the duration of the disease. The degree of fibrosis increased parallel with age and there was a tendency towards glandular fibrosis in myxoedematous patients.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000906:Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006042:Goiter / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010950:Plasma Cells / Q000276:immunology; D013954:Thyroglobulin / Q000276:immunology; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000276:immunology; D013967:Thyroiditis, Autoimmune / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D013954:Thyroglobulin