Thyroid Diseases

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Summary

Your thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland in the front of your neck. It makes hormones that control the way the body uses energy. These hormones affect nearly every organ in your body and control many of your body's most important functions. For example, they affect your breathing, heart rate, weight, digestion, and moods.

Thyroid diseases cause your thyroid to make either too much or too little of the hormones. Some of the different thyroid diseases include:

Goiter, an enlargement of the thyroid gland
Hyperthyroidism, which happens when your thyroid gland makes more thyroid hormones than your body needs
Hypothyroidism, which happens when your thyroid gland does not make enough thyroid hormones
Thyroid cancer
Thyroid nodules, lumps in the thyroid gland
Thyroiditis, swelling of the thyroid

To diagnose thyroid diseases, your health care provider may use a medical history, physical exam, and thyroid tests. In some cases, your provider may also do a biopsy.

Treatment depends on the problem, how severe it is, and what your symptoms are. Possible treatments may include medicines, radioiodine therapy, or thyroid surgery.

Dept. of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health

Start Here

Thyroid and Parathyroid Hormones (Endocrine Society)
Thyroid Disease (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health) Also in Spanish
Thyroid Disease (for Parents) (Nemours Foundation)

Diagnosis and Tests

Needle Biopsy (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
Thyroid Antibodies (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
Thyroid Scan and Uptake (American College of Radiology; Radiological Society of North America) Also in Spanish
Thyroid Tests (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
Thyroxine (T4) Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
Triiodothyronine (T3) Tests (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
TSH (Thyroid-stimulating hormone) test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
Ultrasound - Thyroid (American College of Radiology; Radiological Society of North America) Also in Spanish
Ultrasound-Guided Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy of the Thyroid (American College of Radiology; Radiological Society of North America) Also in Spanish

Treatments and Therapies

Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Thyroid Disease (CAM) (American Thyroid Association)
Older Therapies Aren't Necessarily Better for Thyroid Hormone Replacement (Food and Drug Administration) Also in Spanish
Thyroid Hormone Treatment (American Thyroid Association) Also in Spanish
Thyroid Surgery (American Thyroid Association) Also in Spanish
Thyroidectomy (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

Celiac Disease and Thyroid Conditions (Gluten Intolerance Group)
Pendred Syndrome (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders) Also in Spanish
Potassium Iodide (KI) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Specifics

Thyroid Nodules (Endocrine Society) Also in Spanish
Thyroiditis (American Thyroid Association)

Genetics

Inherited thyroxine-binding globulin deficiency: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
Pendred syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)

Images

Thyroidectomy - series (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

ClinicalTrials.gov: Goiter (National Institutes of Health)
ClinicalTrials.gov: Thyroid Diseases (National Institutes of Health)
ClinicalTrials.gov: Thyroiditis, Autoimmune (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

Find an Expert

American Thyroid Association
Find an Endocrinologist (Endocrine Society)
Find an Endocrinology - Thyroid Specialist (American Thyroid Association)
Find an ENT (American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery)
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Children

Childhood Head and Neck Irradiation (American Thyroid Association) - PDF
Thyroid Disorders (For Kids) (Nemours Foundation)

Women

Postpartum Thyroiditis (American Thyroid Association) - PDF
Thyroid Disease & Pregnancy (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish

Older Adults

Older Patients and Thyroid Disease (American Thyroid Association)
Thyroid Problems (AGS Health in Aging Foundation)

Patient Handouts

Antithyroglobulin antibody test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Fine needle aspiration of the thyroid (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Free T4 test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Radioactive iodine uptake (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Silent thyroiditis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Simple goiter (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Subacute thyroiditis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
T3 test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Thyroid gland removal (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Thyroid nodule (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Thyroid peroxidase antibody (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Thyroid storm (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Thyroid Tests (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
TSH test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish