CAN A THYROID GROW BACK AND PRODUCE T4

[ninja1]

Is it possible for thyroid tissue to grow back producing T4 23 years after a full thyroidectomy.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

It is well documented that thyroid tissue can re-grow after a total thyroidectomy.

What is much less well documented is whether that re-grown thyroid tissue can and does act like the original thyroid in terms of producing thyroid hormone. At least some papers seem to imply that it is either non-functional or less functional.

[paul1979 in reply to helvella]

What about if you have had rai ?

Can it grow back

[MaisieGray in reply to helvella]

From your wider reading, is it the case that there isn't in effect, spontaneous new thyroid tissue created out of thin air; but that the regrown tissue you refer to is from residual fragments of the original gland? And that therefore "total thyroidectomy" should be in speech marks to indicate alleged/generalised, rather than actual, TT? A 2009 paper by d'Andrea et al states that ".... Despite the radical intent of surgeons, a real TT is not always carried out.The complete removal of all the thyroid tissue employing TT is not the norm and micro/macroscopic remnants almost always remain. The literature on these tissue remnants is often based on techniques that are not very accurate in terms of determining the diameters of the tissue remaining. In our study, conducted by colour echo-doppler of the thyroid lodge in 102 patients who had undergone TT for benign thyroid pathologies, we demonstrated significant thyroid tissue remnants after TT in 34 cases of 102 (33,3%). Therefore, out of a total of 102 so-called "total thyroidectomies", only 68 (66,7%) were really total, whereas 12 patients (11,76%) had near total thyroidectomy, leaving tissue remnants < 1 cm, and 22 patients (21,57%) had subtotal thyroidectomy, with tissue remnants > or = 1 cm."