Abstract
The etiology of exophthalmic goiter is still unknown. However, we do know one change that occurs regularly in typical exophthalmic goiter—hyperplasia of the thyroid gland. Various theories have been proposed as to the basic factor underlying this hyperplasia. In these experiments I have been interested in two: (1) Infection; (2) Disordered action of the adrenals.
Halsted 1 found hyperplasia of the thyroid gland after producing in dogs a low grade peritonitis by the intraperitoneal injection of staphylococci. Later he thought he could attribute certain hyperplastic changes in the thyroid to infection of the wound. Cole and Womack 2 described hyperplasia of the thyroid occurring after the implantation of infected foreign bodies into the neck muscles of dogs.
Marine and Baumann 3 found an increase in the basal metabolic rate in some instances after removal of or freezing the adrenal glands of rabbits.
Dogs were used in my experiments. At a preliminary operation I exposed the thyroid lobes, measured them, and took a piece of tissue, 2×2 mm., from the anterior border of the right lobe. Controls showed that no hyperplasia resulted from the removal of this much gland.
In the experiments on the effect of infection on the gland, I implanted foreign bodies contaminated with a culture of staphylococci or with a mixed culture of organism obtained from a fecal fistula into the neck muscles of 8 dogs. These dogs were sacrificed subsequently at periods varying from 4 to 64 days. All except one showed inflammatory reaction around the foreign body. On comparing the necropsy specimen of the thyroid grossly and microscopically with the thyroid at the time of the first operation, no definite evidence of hyperplasia could be observed.
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