Part of “CHAPTER 28 – APPROACH TO THE PATIENT WITH THYROID DISEASE“

The naming of the thyroid gland has been attributed to Wharton1 in 1656, but an endocrine function was not proposed until almost 200 years later.2 Appreciation of the clinical disorders affecting the thyroid followed, the earliest descriptions of which appeared in the following order: thyroid cancer in 18113; diffuse toxic goiter by Parry in 1825,4 Graves in 1835,5 and von Basedow in 18406; cretinism in 18717; myxedema in 18748; thyroidectomy for the treatment of toxic goiter in 18849; thyroid extract therapy for myxedema in 189110; Hashimoto disease in 191211; subacute (de Quervain) thyroiditis in 193612; the structure of thyroxine (T₄) in 192613; identification of triiodothyronine (T₃) in 195214 the presence of thyroid autoantibodies in Hashimoto disease in 195715; the earliest evidence of the thyroid-stimulating antibodies of Graves disease in 195616; recognition of medullary thyroid carcinoma as a distinct entity in 195917; and reports of cases of postpartum thyroiditis with hypothyroidism18 or thyrotoxicosis19 only since 1976 to 1977.