Thyroiditis: The Daily PANCE Blueprint

Home Thyroiditis: The Daily PANCE Blueprint

Thyroiditis: The Daily PANCE Blueprint

A 45-year-old woman presents with fever, anterior neck pain radiating to the jaw, and an enlarged, tender thyroid. She reports a recent viral upper respiratory infection. Thyroid function tests show elevated free T4 and triiodothyronine (T3), low thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), and a high erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Which of the following is the most likely diagnosis?

A) Hashimoto's thyroiditis
B) Graves' disease
C) Subacute thyroiditis
D) Thyroid cancer
E) Silent thyroiditis

Answer and topic summary

The answer is C) Subacute thyroiditis

The patient’s clinical presentation of fever, neck pain radiating to the jaw, a history of a recent viral infection, and an enlarged, tender thyroid, along with laboratory findings of high free T4 and T3, low TSH, and a high ESR, are characteristic of subacute thyroiditis. This condition, likely viral in origin, presents with painful thyroid inflammation and early thyrotoxic phase due to hormone release from disrupted follicles.

View blueprint lesson

Smarty PANCE Content Blueprint Review:

Covered under ⇒ PANCE Blueprint Endocrinology ⇒ Thyroid Disorders ⇒ Thyroiditis