deQuervain thyroiditis

Question 1

deQuervain thyroiditis presentation

Answer 1

Mechanism is viral infection followed by a painful/tender thyroid.

Viral infections are often asymptomatic, so most deQuervain vignettes will
not mention the viral infection.

Question 2

TSH, ­T3, ­T4 in deQuervain thyroiditis

Answer 2

There is inflammation of the thyroid gland, which causes the spacing between the cells to increase slightly, allowing for the release of pre-formed thyroid hormone into the blood. Therefore we have decreased TSH, Increased­ T3, ­increased T4

Question 3

deQuervain thyroiditis alternate names

Answer 3

Aka subacute granulomatous thyroiditis, or just simply subacute thyroiditis

Question 4

Uptake of Iodine-131?

Answer 4

Decreased 131I uptake.
The gland is not over-producing thyroid hormone. This is why uptake is not increased.

Question 5

DeQuervain thyroiditis hypo- or hyperthyroid

Answer 5

Subacute granulomatous thyroiditis can be either hypo- or hyperthyroid. The key detail you need to know is that uptake is always decreased even if the
patient is hyper

DeQuervain thyroiditis vignettes will almost always be given as hyperthyroidism because the USMLE wants to specifically assess that you know uptake is
decreased. If they give you hypo-, of course you’ll select decreased for uptake.

Decreased uptake applies to all thyroiditis conditions (i.e, deQuervain, drug-induced, and postpartum).