[Pathophysiology and diagnosis of autonomous adenoma (author's transl)]

From personal experience in 200 patients and after a careful review of the literature autonomous adenoma of the thyroid is discussed under three aspects: 1. Different ways of its pathogenesis are possible. None of them has been sufficiently proven. 2. Differentiation by scintigraphy into a compensated, partially decompensated and fully decompensated stage does not correlate sufficiently with the concentration of thyroid hormones in the blood and the overall clinical picture. The TRH test is negative in about 90% of patients independent of the stage evaluated by scintigraphy. 3. The diagnosis of the disease by modern tools is critically reviewed.