Abstract:

Introduction and purpose: Thyroid gland pathologies are the largest group in clinical endocrine system defects. The aim of this study is to evaluate the thyroid pathologies of 180 randomly selected autopsies. Materials and methods: Within the scope of the study 180 randomly selected autopsies, thyroid tissues from The Council of Forensic Medicine between the years of 2001 and 2002 were analyzed according to age, gender, cause of death and thyroid pathologies. Results: Cases were categorized according to 6 age groups, namely under 20 years old, between 21-30 years old, 31-40 years old, 41-50 years old, 51-60 years old and over 60 years old. Male/female ratio of these cases was 1.9. Average age was 42,7years old. In 82 cases (45.6 %) different pathologies were encountered in the thyroid. 50 of those were male (61%) and the 32 of those were women (39%) Microscopic examination revealed diffuse and nodular hyperplasia in 56 cases (31%), follicular adenoma in 8 cases (4.5%) and Hashimoto thyroiditis in 5 cases (2.7%). Lymphocytic infiltration has an eye- catching finding in 25 of the cases. In our study, there were only which were consistent with occult papillary carcinoma among to elderly patients. In 98 cases (54.4%) there was no sign of thyroid pathologic changes. In our study we did not encounter any malignant tumors of thyroid other than occult thyroid carcinoma. Conclusion: In conclusion, the present study is a preliminary study, carried out on limited number of cases. More reliable data on the distribution of different thyroid lesions will be obtained by studies performed on larger autopsies series in Turkey

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