Correlation of number of intrathyroid lymphocytes with antimicrosomal antibody titer in Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

The variants of Hashimoto's thyroiditis (classic, florid, and fibrotic types) differ in clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, and morphology. The titers of autoantibodies correlate with the degree of thyroidal lymphocytic infiltration (Wislon et al., 1998(5)) It appears that the density of lymphocytes is inversely proportional to antimicrosomal antibody (AMA) titer. The aim of the present study is to determine the precise relationship between the number of lymphocytes and AMA titer. It may be useful to predict the onset of the disease in subclinically hypothyroid patients. In 62 cases of cytologically confirmed Hashimoto's thyroiditis, the number of lymphocytes per high-power field was counted and correlated with AMA titer. The grading of lymphocytes was done as 1 (<10/HPF), 2 (11-20/HPF), and 3 (>/=21/HPF). The results showed no correlation between lymphocyte number and AMA titer. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.