AUTOIMMUNE CROSS-OVER SYNDROME (OVERLAP SYNDROME) IN THYROID DISEASES - TERRA INCOGNITA OF THYROIDOLOGY

Abstract

A fairly common pathology of the thyroid gland (TG) are autoimmune diseases. However, along with traditional autoimmune diseases of the thyroid gland - diffuse toxic goiter, autoimmune thyroiditis - in clinical practice there are autoimmune overlap syndromes (overlap syndromes), which are characterized by a combination of clinical, biochemical and serological manifestations characteristic of several diseases of this organ. The term “overlap syndrome” (overlap syndrome) means that one patient exhibits signs of two different autoimmune diseases that probably have a common pathogenesis. While the etiology of autoimmune thyroid diseases remains incompletely known, it is impossible to unambiguously decide whether overlap syndrome is an independent disease or a variant of the course of one or another autoimmune thyroid disease. The study of overlap syndrome is necessary to solve an important problem in thyroidology - the development of treatment methods for this category of patients.