Lymphocytic (auto-immune, Hashimoto's) thyroiditis. Presentation of an unusual case with subacute onset in a 14-year-old girl.

Lymphocytic (auto-immune, Hashimoto's) thyroiditis was formerly considered to be a rare condition in childhood, but recent reports indicate that it is by no means uncommon in this period of life and that it is being recognized with apparent increasing frequency (Macksood, Rapport, and Hodges, 1961). Since Hashimoto wrote his historical paper on struma lymphomatosa in 1912, 247 cases of proven Hashimoto's thyroiditis in children have been reported (Table I). There has been no explanation for the apparent increased incidence of lymphocytic thryoiditis in all parts of the world, but it may have resulted in part from an increased awareness of the disorder rather than a true increase in its frequency. At the present time lymphocytic thyroiditis appears to be the most common cause of goitre in childhood, comprising about two-fifths of all non-toxic goitres and approximately one-fifth of all goitres seen by physicians (Saxena and Crawford, 1962). This paper presents an unusual case of lymphocytic thyroiditis in a 14-year-old girl, and discusses the salient features of this condition as compiled from a review of the world literature.