Mapping Thyroid Changes in Size and Position During Enlargement in Adult Mice With Hyperthyroidism

Abstract

The thyroid in Graves’ disease undergoes a considerable divergence in size and position from the normal anatomy. However, knowledge of the pathological anatomy related to the change, which is required before planned surgical or local intervention, or diagnosis, is neglected. To investigate Graves’ disease, we well-established a model of mice that successfully mimics all the signs presented in the clinic. Under a long-term immunization (35 weeks), the animals displayed a big heterogeneity in thyroid size, like the cases of natural occurrence. These thyroids in the model were sized into various phases and registered. A blend of the registered thyroids and the thyroid and tracheal cartilage landmarks led to the production of site-dependent incidence graphs of thyroid in the front view and on the section for each phase. The merger of the incidence graphs of all the phases resulted in thyroid phase-dependent topography. The depicted graphs illustrate the fine localization of the thyroid in various sizes and their dynamic changes during enlargement, which may facilitate currently used fine-needle aspiration biopsy and ultrasonography-guided biopsy techniques. Familiarity with the knowledge might avoid misclassifying an abnormality as normal, or vice versa, and be helpful for imaging diagnosis and local surgery therapy in Graves’ disease.