Disorders of the Thyroid: Medical Overview

Abstract

Disorders of the thyroid gland have been recognized for more than 2,000 years. Endemic goiter and cretinism were evident during the fourth century B.C. by Andean sculptures of goitrous dwarfs and descriptions recorded in Europe during the first century B.C. (Gaitan, 1975; Cranefield, 1962). Thyromegaly associated with the symptoms and signs of hyperthyroidism was first recognized by Parry in 1786 although not published until 1825 (Parry, 1825). The most common cause of hyperthyroidism is named after Robert Graves who reported the disease in 1835 and associated the enlargement of the thyroid with the cause of the clinical disease (Graves, 1835). Not until the second half of the nineteenth century was an absence of the thyroid gland associated with clinical features of cretinism (Curling, 1850) and myxedema (Ord, 1878). Medical therapy for hypothyroidism was discovered approximately 100 years ago, and antithyroid drugs and radioiodine were introduced as treatment for hyperthyroidism approximately 50 years ago.