Some new observations on subacute thyroiditis.

Abstract

Subacute (granulomatous, acute) nonsuppurative thyroiditis has been generally accepted as being a true inflammation of the thyroid gland since it was first described by de Quervain in 1904 (1). Its course may vary from an acute systemic inflammatory reaction to a smoldering lowgrade one (2). The clinical diagnosis of the acute form is usually not difficult for the physician who is familiar with the disease. However, recently we have observed some atypical features which either complicated the clinical diagnosis or resulted in a failure to make the correct clinical diagnosis. The purpose of this paper is to describe these atypical clinical features; to present findings obtained with thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) tests, electrophoretic protein pattern determinations and serum colloidal gold tests in both typical and atypical subacute thyroiditis; and to present results with the use of prednisone as a therapeutic agent.