19135              NODULAR ADENOMATOUS GOITRE

The patient was a poorly cared-for 86 year old woman with senile dementia.  She was admitted febrile and dehydrated with a distended abdomen and tenderness in the right iliac fossa.  A retrocaecal inflamed appendix was removed.  She recovered satisfactorily but remained in a demented state and died 3 months after the operation.

The specimen consists of a coronal section through the thyroid showing adenomatous nodules of varying size separated by thin fibrous septa.  Some nodules show dense hyaline sclerosis with patches of haemorrhage and lakes of colloid several mms in diameter.  Patches of calcification are present in this region.  There was no evidence of hyperthyroidism.