Thyroid Diseases

On this page

Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Prevention and Risk Factors
• Treatments and Therapies

Learn More

• Related Issues
• Specifics
• Genetics

See, Play and Learn

• Images
• Videos and Tutorials

Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Reference Desk
• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Teenagers
• Women
• Seniors
• Patient Handouts

Summary

Your thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in your neck, just above your collarbone. It is one of your endocrine glands, which make hormones. Thyroid hormones control the rate of many activities in your body. These include how fast you burn calories and how fast your heart beats. All of these activities are your body's metabolism.

Thyroid problems include

• Goiter - enlargement of the thyroid gland
• Hyperthyroidism - when your thyroid gland makes more thyroid hormones than your body needs
• Hypothyroidism - 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, doctors use a medical history, physical exam, and thyroid tests. They sometimes also use a biopsy. Treatment depends on the problem, but may include medicines, radioiodine therapy, or thyroid surgery.

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

Start Here

• Thinking About Your Thyroid: Get to Know This Small But Mighty Gland (National Institutes of Health)
• Thyroid Disease (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health)
• Thyroid Disease (for Parents) (Nemours Foundation)
• Thyroid Disorders Overview (Hormone Health Network)

Diagnosis and Tests

• Free T4 (Thyroxine) Test (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
• Needle Biopsy (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
• T3 (Triiodothyronine) Test (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
• Thyroid Antibodies (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
• 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)
• TSH (Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone) Test (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
• Ultrasound of the Thyroid Gland (American College of Radiology, Radiological Society of North America) Also in Spanish
• Ultrasound-Guided Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy of the Thyroid (Radiological Society of North America) Also in Spanish

Prevention and Risk Factors

• Neck Check (American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists) - PDF

Treatments and Therapies

• Thyroid Disease and Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) (American Thyroid Association)
• Thyroid Hormone Treatment (American Thyroid Association)
• Thyroid Surgery (American Thyroid Association) Also in Spanish
• Thyroidectomy (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

Related Issues

• Celiac Disease and Thyroid Conditions (Gluten Intolerance Group) - PDF
• Endocrinologist: What Is an Endocrinologist? (Hormone Health Network)
• Pendred Syndrome (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders) Also in Spanish
• Potassium Iodide (KI) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Also in Spanish

Specifics

• Thyroid Nodules (Hormone Health Network)
• Thyroiditis (American Thyroid Association)

Genetics

• Genetics Home Reference: Cowden syndrome (National Library of Medicine)
• Genetics Home Reference: inherited thyroxine-binding globulin deficiency (National Library of Medicine)
• Genetics Home Reference: Pendred syndrome (National Library of Medicine)

Images

• Thyroidectomy - slideshow (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Videos and Tutorials

• Surgical Removal of the Thyroid Gland (BroadcastMed) - Baptist Health South Florida, Miami, FL, 2/01/2012 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)

• Article: Thyroid and Islet Autoantibodies Predict Autoimmune Thyroid Disease at Type...
• Article: Limbic encephalitis associated with anti-NH2-terminal of α-enolase antibodies: A clinical...
• Article: Thyroid cytology-nuclear versus architectural atypia within the "Atypia of undetermined...
• Thyroid Diseases -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• Introduction to the Endocrine System (Hormone Health Network)
• Thyroid Disease Definitions (Nemours Foundation)

Find an Expert

• American Thyroid Association
• Find an Endocrinologist (Hormone Health Network)
• Find an Endocrinology - Thyroid Specialist (American Thyroid Association)
• Find an ENT (American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery)
• Hormone Health Network
• 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)

Teenagers

• Thyroid Disease and Teens (Nemours Foundation)

Women

• Postpartum Thyroiditis (American Thyroid Association) - PDF
• Pregnancy and Thyroid Disease (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

Seniors

• Thyroid Disease in the Older Patient (American Thyroid Association)
• Thyroid Problems (AGS Foundation for Health in Aging)

Patient Handouts

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