Riedel's thyroiditis natural history, complications and prognosis

If left untreated, patients with Riedel’s thyroiditis may progress to develop complications such as painless neck pressure out of proportion to the size of the goiter, hoarseness, stridor, dysphagia, hypothyroidism, hypoparathyroidism, Horner’s syndrome, and occlusive phlebitis. Prognosis is generally good and the disease-specific death rate ranges in frequency from 6-10% in the patients with Riedel’s thyroiditis.

The symptoms of Riedel’s thyroiditis usually develop in the third to fifth decade of life and progresses slowly.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

• Diagnosis of is often delayed for a variable period of time after the onset of clinical symptoms.
• After the initial presentation, it has been observed that the process may stabilize or even regress.
• If left untreated, patients with Riedel’s thyroiditis may progress to develop dysphagia, stridor, painless neck pressure out of proportion to the size of the goiter, and hypothyroidism.

• Common complications of Riedel’s thyroiditis include:^{[4][7][8][9][10][11][12]}
  • Hoarseness
  • Stridor
  • Dysphagia
  • Hypothyroidism
  • Hypoparathyroidism
  • Horner’s syndrome
  • Occlusive phlebitis
  • Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis

• Prognosis is generally good and the disease-specific death rate ranges in frequency from 6-10% in patients with Riedel’s thyroiditis.^[13][14][8]

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