Thyroiditis

Question 1

what can it cause?

Answer 1

can lead to hypo or hyperthyroidism

Question 2

what is it?

Answer 2

autoimmune disease is a common cause of inflammation of the thyroid gland (grave’s disease - hyperthyroidism and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis - hypothyroidism)

Question 3

what are some other causes of inflammation?

Answer 3

palpation 
subacute lymphocytic 
de Quervain's 
Infectoin 
Riedel's

Question 4

what causes autoimmune thyroiditis?

Answer 4

increased incidence in family members
high concordance rate in monzygotic twins
susceptibility associated with HLA halotype
associated with other auto-immune diseases

Question 5

what are the polymorphisms in immune regulation associated genes seen in autoimmune thyroiditis? (realistically memorising this might be a waste of time)

Answer 5

CTLA-4 - negative regulator of T cell responses, polymorphism with reduced protein level/ function increase risk of auto-immune disease
PTPN-22 - inhibits T cell function

Question 6

what are the 3 thyroid hormones measured?

Answer 6

thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH)
free T4 (roughly 80% of thyroid hormone secreted)
free T3 (remaining 20%)
99% of T4 and T3 are bound to plasma proteins - TBG, albumin and pre-albumin

Question 7

what is TSH?

Answer 7

aka thyrotropin
released by thyrotroph cells in the anterior pituitary in response to thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH)
reflects tissue thyroid hormone action