Aim:The aim of the present study was to grade lymphocytic thyroiditis cases based on predefined cytological criteria and to correlate cytological grades with thyroid hormonal status. Material & methods:A 18 months retrospective study conducted in the Department of Pathology. Thyroid fine needle aspirates from 50 patients presenting with thyroid swelling during this period were retrieved from the archives of our department. May Grunwald-Giemsa (MGG) and Papanicolaou (PAP) stained smears from these patients were examined under light microscopy. Results: In the study, 45 (90%) were female participants and 5 (10%) male participants. The age categories of 21-30 years (24%), 41-50 years (18%), and 31–40 years (32%) had the highest proportion of patients, respectively. With ages ranging from 7 to 80, the mean age was 34.96 years. Grading revealed that grade II thyroiditis accounted for the majority of cases (64%), followed by grade I (32%), and grade III (4%). Thyroid hormonal profiles were obtained for 24 out of 50 patients. The majority of patients had hypothyroidism, which was followed by euthyroidism and hyperthyroidism. The majority of individuals with thyroiditis of grade II also had hypothyroidism. Grade II thyroiditis, grade I thyroiditis, and no cases of grade III thyroiditis were responsible for the majority of the euthyroid cases. There was no patient with grade III thyroiditis who had a normal hormonal status and a thyroid profile was available. The majority of the cases of lymphocytic thyroiditis associated with hyperthyroidism (Hashitoxicosis) had grade I thyroiditis. Conclusion: When it comes to identifying lymphocytic thyroiditis, the FNAC tests continue to be considered the gold standard. Nevertheless, according to the findings of our inquiry, there is no statistically significant connection between the cytological grades and the clinical state of the thyroid hormones.

Lymphocytic thyroiditis, cytological grading, thyroid hormonal status