Critically ill patients: Histopathological evidence of thyroid dysfunction.

Purpose: Critical illness is characterized by severe biphasic physical and metabolic stress as result of systemic inflammatory response syndrome and/or multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, and is frequently associated with non-thyroidal illness. Purpose of this study is to better understand the cytomorphological basis of NTI by performing histopathological examinations of thyroid gland on autopsies of patients who died from critical illness.

Methods: Histopathological examination of thyroid gland of 58 critically ill patients was performed in our hospital.