Focal chronic thyroiditis and chronic carotid glomitis.

The incidence of focal chronic thyroiditis and chronic carotid glomitis was studied by histological examination in 50 subjects over the age of 50 years coming to necropsy. The two conditions appear to be distinct, affecting different age groups. Focal chronic thyroiditis occurred as early as the sixth decade and was found on its own in 34 per cent of subjects. Chronic carotid glomitis was characteristic of the eighth and ninth decades and occurred on its own in 14 per cent of subjects. In a further 12 per cent, thyroiditis and glomitis co-existed. Chronic carotid glomitis has the same histological features as auto-immune thyroiditis, the infiltrate being composed of aggregates of lymphocytes and plasma cells, raising the possibility that it, too, has a basis in auto-immunity. The antigenic stimulus for the auto-immunity in the carotid bodies may be senescent nerve fibrils.