Lymphoid tissue in the thyroid gland and thymus of patients with primary thyrotoxicosis

Abstract

Abstract The amount of lymphoid tissue in the thyroid gland and thymus at the time of partial thyroidectomy was measured quantitatively with the point-counting technique. The normal pattern of age involution of the thymus was established in patients with non-toxic nodular goitre. In all the patients with thyrotoxicosis the thymus is hyperplastic; after pretreatment with antithyroid drugs, such as carbimazole, the pattern of age involution is similar to that in the control subjects, whereas after propranolol therapy very little age involution is seen. Patients treated with antithyroid drugs show much less lymphoid infiltration of the thyroid gland than those prepared with propranolol.