Hashimoto's thyroiditis historical perspective

Hashimoto’s thyroiditis was first described by Hashimoto Hakaru in 1912. He named it struma lymphomatosa which was renamed as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis in 1931.

Hashimoto’s thyroiditis was first described by a Japanese physician Hashimoto Hakaru (1881−1934) of the medical school at Kyushu University. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is also known as Hashimoto’s disease. ^[1]

• Hashimoto thyroiditis was initially considered to be an earlier manifestation of Riedel’s thyroiditis.
• Hashimoto Hakaru was the first who described four patients with a chronic disorder of the thyroid. Hakaru Hashimoto explained in his report that the new pathological characteristics he had identified, namely infiltration of lymphoid and plasma cells, the formation of lymphoid follicles with germinal centers, fibrosis, degenerated thyroid epithelial cells and leukocytes in the lumen, were histologically similar to those of Mikulicz’s disease.^[2][3]
• Hashimoto Hakaru termed the new disease struma lymphomatosa due to the lymphoid cell infiltration and formation of lymphoid follicles with germinal centers.^[3]
• Hashimoto’s struma lymphomatosa was then ignored and forgotten until 1931, when Allen Graham and his team at Cleveland reported struma lymphomatosa as detailed by Hashimoto Hakaru and recommended it to be considered a separate disease as Hashimoto suggested. Since then, this disease has been referred to as Hashimoto thyroiditis.^[3]

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