What Is Thyroiditis?

Thyroiditis may be thought of as an inflammation of the thyroid gland. There are several different types of thyroiditis, and more than one type may occur in the same patient. For example, a patient with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, a common chronic type of thyroiditis, may also develop a transient type of thyroiditis, such as subacute thyroiditis.

One way of classifying the different types of thyroiditis is by their duration:

• chronic (permanent)
• transient (lasting less than a year)
• acute (rapid onset requiring immediate attention)

The table below shows a classification of the different types of thyroiditis.

Chronic Thryoiditis: Hashimoto's Thyroditis

In 1912, Dr. Hakaru Hashimoto first identified the chronic form of autoimmune thyroiditis that now bears his name-Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Other names for Hashimoto's thyroiditis are chronic auto­immune thyroiditis, chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis, and struma lymphomatosa.