Thyroid Diseases Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Treatment

This book presents the latest advances in knowledge of the pathogenesis of thyroid diseases and describes the state of the art in their diagnosis and treatment, including newly emerging management approaches. After an opening section that addresses thyroid physiology and laboratory evaluation, each of the major thyroid diseases and their subtypes is discussed, covering goiter and thyroid nodule, thyroiditis, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism and thyrotoxicosis, and thyroid carcinoma. Other conditions that affect thyroid function or induce thyroid dysfunction are also considered, e.g., pregnancy, non-thyroidal disorders, and medication use. The book is designed to assist practitioners to achieve optimal outcomes in clinical routine by providing clear guidance on clinical examination, the use of diagnostic tests, first- and second-line therapies, and follow-up. Chapter have been written by recognized experts in the field.

Part I Thyroid physiology and laboratory evaluation of the thyroid: Regulation of thyroid function, synthesis and function of thyroid hormones.- Tests of thyroid function .- Thyroid autoantibodies.- Thyroid imaging.- Part II Goiter and thyroid nodule: Non-toxic goiter.- Thyroid nodule.- Part III Thyroiditis: Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.- Post-partum thyroiditis and silent thyroiditis.- Acute and sub-acute thyroiditis.- Part IV Hypothyroidism: Classification and etiopathogenesis.- Congenital hypothyroidism .- Primary hypothyroidism.- Central hypothyroidism.- Diagnosis and treatment of hypothyroidism.- Part V Hyperthyroidism and thyrotoxicosis: Graves’ disease.- Graves’ ophthalmopathy.- Treatment of Graves’ disease.- Toxic adenoma and multinodular toxic goiter.- Other forms of thyrotoxicosis.- Part VI Thyroid carcinoma: Pathogenesis of thyroid carcinoma.- Differentiated thyroid carcinoma of follicular origin.- Medullary carcinoma.- Anaplastic and other forms of thyroid carcinoma.- New (medical) treatment for thyroid carcinoma.- Part VII Other conditions influencing thyroid function or inducing thyroid dysfunction: Thyroid physiology and thyroid diseases in pregnancy.- Non-thyroidal illness.- Drugs and other substances interfering with thyroid function and inducing thyroid diseases.

Paolo Vitti is Full Professor of Endocrinology and past Director of the School of Endocrinology at the Medical School, University of Pisa, Italy, and Chief of Endocrinology at the University Hospital of Pisa. Dr. Vitti is a past member of the Executive Committee of the European Thyroid Association and a past Secretary of the Italian Thyroid Association. He has been a member of the International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD) since 1996 and an ICCIDD board member since 2003. He has also been Vice-Regional Coordinator for the ICCIDD in West Central Europe since 2001 and a member of expert WHO/ICCIDD teams for external reviews in Kenya, Macedonia, and Peru. 

He is currently president of the Italian Society of Endocrinology. He is the author of over 150 articles, most of which have been published in authoritative international journals, and of a number of chapters of international and national endocrine textbooks.

Laszlo Hegedüs , 65, trained in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1992, having defended his thesis, he became a consultant physician at the Department of Endocrinology in Odense, Denmark. Here he built up a thyroid research group, and became a full professor in 2006.

         Publications, more than 480, include chapters in leading endocrine textbooks and include diagnostic imaging; radioiodine therapy; ultrasound-guided diagnosis and treatment of thyroid diseases; environmental and hereditary aspects of the regulation of thyroid function and size; environmental and genetic background for thyroid disorders utilizing Danish twins; late effects of thyroid diseases. Developing and utilizing ThyPRO to evaluate thyroid related quality of life and the role of selenium in thyroid diseases are also in focus.

          Dr. Hegedüs has served as editor of Clinical Endocrinology and as editorial board member of a number of journals. He has mentored around 50 individuals defending their academic theses. He is president-elect of the European Thyroid Association and a former president of the Danish Thyroid Association. He is extensively used at endocrine and thyroid teaching courses and has given more than 200 invited talks. Professor Hegedüs is the recipient of several prizes, including the George Murray lecture and the Pitt-Rivers lecture from the British Thyroid Association and the Frontiers in Science Award from the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.