[Definition and clinical importance of thyroiditis]

Regarding the different forms of thyroiditis our knowledge has so significantly grown in the last two decades that their clinical importance has been reevaluated. To-day they are ranged among the most often endocrinological disorders. Namely, it became obvious that the most often causes of the temporary hyper- and hypothyroidism are the most recent recognized forms of subacute thyroiditis, and that producing of permanent hypothyroidism the postpartum form also joined with Hashimoto's thyroiditis as the most often endogenous aetiological factor. The most accepted classification of the large group of thyroiditis is the following: acute, subacute and chronic forms. Beyond these rigorous frames of terminology the individual forms overstep the conventional boundaries relating to time, histology and clinical symptoms; they can overlap of follow each other, even they can appear together at the same time. These can be better understood and explained by the disturbance of immunoregulation, which is detectable or supposed in the majority of discussed disorders. The diagnostic and therapeutical characteristics of different forms of thyroiditis have been made known.