appears benign. Metaplasia of the stroma as described is a benign condition. That is all good news -- now it's just an issue of thyroid replacement dosing.
hyperplasia An abnormal increase in the number of cells in an organ or a tissue with consequent enlargement
metaplasia
Metaplasia (change in form, Greek) is the replacement of one differentiated cell type with another mature differentiated cell type. The change from one type of cell to another is generally caused by some sort of abnormal stimulus. In simplistic terms, it is as if the original cells are not robust enough to withstand the new environment, and so they change into another type more suited to the new environment. If the stimulus that caused metaplasia is removed or ceases, tissues return to their normal pattern of differentiation. Metaplasia is not synonymous with dysplasia and is not considered carcinogenesis. It is also contrasted with heteroplasia, which is the abnormal growth of cytologic and histologic elements without a stimulus.
The total thyroidectomy was done last Saturday - results:
Left Thryoid Lobe and isthmus:
Benign multinodular hyperplasia
Dominant Nodule 3.5cm in greatest dimension
Pyramidal Lobe:
Benign multinodular hyperplasia
Right Thyroid Lobe:
Follicular adenoma with adipose metaplasia of the stroma (adenolipoma), 2.5 cm in greates dimension
Can you explain this in english? All the surgeon said was everything was benign - isn't hyperplasia a pre-cancercous condition?
What is metaplasia?
Thanks,
Tracy
I would usually FNA the larger nodules but with multiple 1cm nodules sometimes this gets impractical. The risk of cancer is elevated with the XRT exposure as a child and surgery is the most definitive way to answer that question, but with a good thyroidologist and pathologist as well as ultrasound follow-up often surgery can be avoided if a benign goiter is the diagnosis.
The 4cm nodule with this history is worrisome however and many would advocate surgery on this basis -- given the multiple nodules a total thyroidectomy would be my choice if it were my neck and surgery was being done.
Try to re-post to tell what the results are/were -- sorry for the delay in responding.