Abstract
Thyroid tuberculosis is very uncommon even in countries where tuberculosis is endemic. It is commonly seen secondary to tubercular infection of other organ or tissue by hematogenous spread. There are many different presentations of thyroid tuberculosis. Before the advent of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), all patients had surgery and thyroid tuberculosis was diagnosed only on biopsy of specimen. Nowadays, FNAC can confirm the diagnosis in many cases, and the patient can be cured by standard anti-tubercular treatment without the need for surgery. Surgery is required only when there is suspicion of malignancy and FNAC is inconclusive.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Das DK, Pant CS, Chachra KL, Gupta AK (1992) Fine needle aspiration cytology diagnosis of tuberculous thyroiditis: a report of eight cases. Acta Cytol 36:517–522
Chintamani SRD, Mittal MK, Gupta K, Sinha AN (2004) Tuberculosis of the thyroid. Trop Doct 34(1):52–53
Kapan M, Toksoz M, Bakir SD et al (2011) Primary thyroid tuberculosis. Eur J Gen Med 8(4):357–360
Rankin FW, Graham AS (1932) Tuberculosis of the thyroid gland. Ann Surg 96(4):625–648
Majid U, Islam N, (2011) Journal of thyroid research volume2011,Article ID359864, 4pages. doi:10.4061/2011/359864
Raman L, Murray J, Banka R (2014) Primary tuberculosis of thyroid gland: an unexpected cause of thyrotoxicosis. BMJ Case Rep. doi:10.1136/bcr-2013-202792
Mondal A, Patra DK (1995) Efficacy of fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of tuberculosis of the thyroid gland: a study of 18 cases. J Laryngol Otol 109(1):36–38
Akbulut S, Sogutku N, Arikanoglu Z, Bakir S, Ulku A, Yagmur V (2011) Thyroid tuberculosis in southeastern Turkey: is this the resurgence of a stubborn disease? World J Surg 35(8):1847–1852
Conflict of Interest
Dr. Rajesh Kumar Soni and Dr. Ajit Sinha declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Soni, R.K., Sinha, A. Tuberculosis of the Thyroid—a Diagnostic Enigma. Indian J Surg 77 (Suppl 1), 179–181 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12262-015-1243-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12262-015-1243-6