Curriculum · Gynecology / Women's Health / Infertility / Perinatal Care / Birth Spacing
Postpartum thyroiditis
What it is
Postpartum thyroiditis is a painless thyroiditis whose age at onset is childbearing age. It is also called painless postpartum thyroiditis and subacute lymphocytic thyroiditis. It belongs to a group that also holds Hashimoto's thyroiditis, which is chronic lymphocytic or chronic autoimmune thyroiditis; painless sporadic or silent sporadic thyroiditis; painful subacute thyroiditis, also called giant-cell or subacute granulomatous thyroiditis; suppurative or infectious thyroiditis; drug-induced thyroiditis from amiodarone, lithium, interferon alfa or interleukin-2; and Riedel's or fibrous thyroiditis.
The table that carries it says of itself that the specific types of thyroiditis are very unlikely to be tested in depth, and that what is asked for is the overall approach and the differentiation from the rest of the differential diagnosis.
Causes and risk
The cause is autoimmune, as it is in Hashimoto's thyroiditis and in painless sporadic thyroiditis, and the pathological finding is lymphocytic infiltration. Painful subacute thyroiditis has an unknown cause and shows giant cells and granulomas, while suppurative thyroiditis is infectious and forms an abscess.
Age and sex ratio place each one. Postpartum thyroiditis is of childbearing age and no sex ratio is given for it. Hashimoto's thyroiditis is of all ages with a peak at 30-50 and a sex ratio, F:M, of 8-9:1; painless sporadic thyroiditis is of all ages with a peak at 30-40 and a ratio of 2:1; painful subacute thyroiditis runs 20-60 with a ratio of 5:1; suppurative thyroiditis takes children and the 20-40 band with a ratio of 1:1; and Riedel's thyroiditis runs 30-60 with a ratio of 3-4:1. The pathological findings differ with them: Hashimoto's shows lymphocytic infiltration with germinal centers and fibrosis, and Riedel's shows dense fibrosis.