What are the symptoms of goiter? There are actually these complications

There are no obvious symptoms of goiter in the early stages, and the patient will not feel any pain. There will only be a lump. However, if not treated in time, adverse reactions such as difficulty breathing and hoarseness will occur, and may eventually cause many complications.

1. Clinical manifestations of goiter

There are no obvious clinical symptoms in the early stage. The thyroid gland is mildly to moderately diffusely enlarged, soft and non-tender. In very rare cases of obvious swelling, compression symptoms may occur, such as difficulty breathing, difficulty swallowing, hoarseness, irritating cough, etc. Substernal goiter may present with symptoms of esophageal or superior vena cava compression. The thyroid function is basically normal, but about 5% of patients have hypothyroidism due to insufficient compensatory function of the thyroid gland, which affects intelligence and growth and development. A small number of patients with goiter have elevated serum TSH levels for a long time. When iodine is supplemented, excessive thyroid hormone synthesis occurs, resulting in iodine-induced hyperthyroidism.

2. Complications of goiter

1Hypothyroidism

Many patients with goiter have normal clinical thyroid function (compensated). However, since the application of radioimmunoassay technology to measure hormones, it has been confirmed that most patients with goiter, and even those without goiter, have varying degrees of hypothyroidism. The survey results in Majiang County, Guizhou Province are worthy of attention. Among the 18 pregnant women with goiter, the detection rate of hypothyroidism in their newborns reached 38.9%. Liu Jialiu and Tan Yubin also provided the first data in the world on changes in fetal thyroid function in iodine-deficient areas. Their examination of 30 aborted fetuses in the province found that 23 of them showed decreased T4 and increased TSH, which would undoubtedly cause brain development disorders to varying degrees.

2Hyperthyroidism

The incidence of hyperthyroidism in patients with toxic nodular goiter is not high and is only seen in patients over 40 years old with toxic nodular goiter. The symptoms of this type of hyperthyroidism are the same as those of general hyperthyroidism. Radionuclide scanning can reveal hot nodules that concentrate iodine. The symptoms are generally milder than those of Graves' disease, and are easy to cure and less likely to recur after surgery.

3. Thyroid cancer

There has been controversy over whether thyroid cancer is related to onychomycosis. Tan Yubin reported that the incidence of thyroid cancer in 997 cases of nodular goiter in Longhua County, Hebei Province was 1.2%. Ma Xiao found that the incidence rate was only 1.59% in 3,304 cases in Shaanxi Province. This incidence rate was not higher than that in non-diseased areas. It is worth noting that nodular thyroid nodules are more likely to become cancerous, especially single nodules. According to reports from all over the world, the incidence of follicular carcinoma and anaplastic carcinoma is high in iodine-deficient areas, while the incidence of papillary carcinoma is low; however, after iodine supplementation, in iodine-sufficient or high-iodine areas, the incidence of follicular carcinoma and anaplastic carcinoma is low, but the incidence of papillary carcinoma is high.

4 Tracheal softening

Tracheal softening is the result of long-term compression of the trachea by an enlarged thyroid gland. Direct compression of the trachea by hard or calcified thyroid nodules is the main factor causing softening. The main symptoms of the patients are dyspnea (71.6%) and even inability to lie flat (16.4%). More than half of the patients also have cardiovascular symptoms such as palpitations and shortness of breath. Ma Xiao counted the complications of thyroid gland while performing surgical treatment on 11,500 patients with goiter in Shaanxi Province.

Another complication of goiter is follicular cell carcinoma and its sarcoma. After iodine supplementation, its incidence decreases and the course of the disease becomes more benign.