What is Adenomatous Goiter?
Adenomatous goiter refers to a type of goiter, which is an enlargement of the thyroid gland. It is characterized by the presence of adenomatous nodules, which are benign (non-cancerous) growths within the thyroid gland.
In adenomatous goiter many nodules are scattered through the whole gland or located in a part of the gland showing conglomerate appearance. Histologically definite capsules surrounding nodules are not observed. Various steps of the development of follicle, from immature to large mature, are seen. These findings suggest the hyperplastic character of this disease.
The frequency of adenomatous goiter among simple nodular goiter is 11.0%. There was no difference in this frequency before and after 1964*.
The scintigram of adenomatous goiter frequently shows irregular cold nodule which is distinguishable from typical cold nodule of adenoma.
The differential diagnosis between adenomatous goiter and thyroid cancer is sometimes difficult. They say 14.9% of adenomatous goiter was misdiagnosed as cancer preoperatively. However, comparing the frequencies of the misdiagnosis before and after 1964, it decreased after 1964*.
In gross findings adenomatous goiter sometimes shows conglomerate appearance, however has little tendency to cystic degeneration. Adenomatous goiter is classified into scattered type and circumscribed type, and unilateral type and bilateral type. In age distribution of each, the unilateral type is observed more frequently in younger generation than bilateral type.
There are still some unknown problems concerning the histological difference between adenomatous goiter and multiple adenomas.
*Study of Adenomatous Goiter
Futoshi IIDA, Yasuo ISHIDA, Masaaki YONEKURA
1970 Volume 46 Issue 4 Pages 429-440,365