Tuberculosis of the Thyroid Gland: A Case Report

Abstract

Thyroid tuberculosis is a very rare condition even if the incidence of extrapulmonary forms of tuberculosis has increased. We report the case of a 56-year old female patient with tuberculosis of the thyroid gland and tubercular lymphadenitis of the neck mimicking thyroid malignancy. The diagnosis was established on histological examination after surgery in August 2002. Total thyroidectomy and central neck dissection were performed for very hard euthyroid multinodular goiter and paratracheal bilateral lymphadenopathy. There were no evidence of tubercular involvement of the other organs. The patient underwent combination treatment with antitubercular drugs for 6 months. During the three years follow-up period there was no evidence of disease recurrence.

Key Words:

• Thyroiditis
• tuberculosis

Additional information

Notes on contributors

V. Zivaljevic

V. Zivaljevic Centre for Endocrine Surgery institute of Endocrinology Clinical Centre of Serbia Koste Todorovica 8 YU-Belgrade, Serbia Tel.: [phone] Fax: [phone] E-mail: [email protected]