Goiter may be defined as the enlargement of the thyroid gland but should not be mistaken for a cancer. It may occur due to the under or over production of the thyroid hormone and also due to the deficiency of iodine in the body .After the necessary symptoms have been observed then the necessary testing should be done in order to confirm if the goiter exists in the body or not. Once a person has been diagnosed with goiter then the goiter treatment should be started immediately. It should be kept in mind that goiter is a curable disorder if goiter treatment is carried out properly and under the guidance of an expert medical practitioner.

There are various methods for goiter treatment and they are based on the size, symptoms observed and the underlying causes and hence accordingly the types of goiter treatment given to a patient are as follows:

Observation

The patient who is diagnosed with goiter is kept under observation and if the symptoms and the functioning of the gland is normal then the doctors tend to wait and watch so as to know whether the disorder progresses or not and if it’s a severe case hen either surgery is done or other medications are provided.

Radioactive iodine therapy

This therapy is given in case there is growth of the nodules or the goiter as a whole. The radioactive iodine is a therapeutic option and is taken orally .It is present in the blood where from it reaches the goiter present in the neck and kills the thyroid cells. The important facts pertaining to this are:

• It is mostly performed in older people as in that case, surgery cannot be performed.
• In most cases, there is reduction in the size of the goiter
• The symptoms which are obstructive reduce to a greater extent.
• The side effects of the therapy include the under active thyroid gland or thyroiditis may occur.
• In many cases, the recombinant human TSH is used before the radioactive iodine therapy is done. This reduces the goiter.
• The hormone replacement therapy is another option when accompanied by artificial thyroid hormones.

By means of diet

As it is a known fact that goiter is caused due to the deficiency of the iodine, so in that perspective iodine rich diet plays an important role. So, foods like fish, sea vegetables should be included in our daily diet to compensate for the iodine deficiency in our body.

Medication

They are an important component for the goiter treatment and include the medicines which contain the thyroid hormones like T4 which suppress the growth of the thyroid gland. The important medicines so included are:

• Levothyroxine: this is responsible for reducing the amount of TSH induced in the blood as a result the growth of the thyroid does not take place. The side effect for taking this is that it may cause cortical bone loss.
• Sodium iodide: it is an antithyroid agent and leads to the reduction in the size of the goiter.
• Surgery: also known as the Thyroidectomy is another goiter treatment done in extreme cases. It is done to provide rapid relief from the goiter symptoms. The whole of the goiter is removed by removing the thyroid gland or only a part of it.

Thus, all these treatments are taken according to their need and specifications. Their need depends upon the intensity of the goiter whether severe or mild.