23395              THYROID ATROPHY DUE TO MYDOEDEMA

The patient was a 74 year old man who died from the effects of a bronchogenic carcinoma.  For several years before his death he had been on replacement therapy for myxoedema.  The cause of the myxoedema is not known.

The specimen consists of the tongue, larynx, trachea and thyroid.  The thyroid is greatly diminished in size.  The small size of the thyroid in this specimen could be attributed to the suppression of the pituitary secretion of TSH because of the administration of replacement therapy rather than only to the disease process in the thyroid.