What is the cause of thyroid nodules?

Thyroid enlargement and the formation of nodules are classified as nodular thyroid. Most patients have a history of simple thyroid enlargement. The occurrence of nodules is generally a late symptom with a high incidence rate. Nodular thyroid is more common in people over 30 years old, so everyone should pay more attention to it in life.

1. Causes of nodular thyroid

Most of the cases are based on simple diffuse thyroid adenoma. Due to repeated progression of the disease, the filtration epithelium changes from diffuse hyperplasia to focal hyperplasia, and some areas undergo degeneration. Finally, due to the long-term alternation of proliferative and degenerative lesions, nodules at different stages of development appear in the gland.

The pathological changes are actually a late manifestation of simple thyroid. Among patients with nodular thyroid, 5% to 8% may develop toxic symptoms, namely Plummer's disease or toxic nodular thyroid. Some nodular thyroids, due to the excessive proliferation of epithelial cells, can form embryonal adenomas or papillary adenocarcinomas, or thyroid cancer.

2. How to treat

Generally, simple nodular thyroid adenoma, whether single or multiple nodules, can be treated with thyroid preparations if they are warm or cold nodules.

If the enlarged nodules shrink after treatment, they can continue to be used until they disappear completely. If the nodules do not disappear after treatment, the thyroid nodules should be removed and the changes in thyroid function should be observed during treatment. For hot nodules with functional autonomy, surgical treatment should also be adopted as the main treatment, and the changes in thyroid function should also be observed after surgery.