Autoimmune Thyroid Disease (Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis) in Two Patients with Crohn’s Disease: Case Reports and Literature Review

• Published in: Internal Medicine Vol. 44; no. 4; pp. 303 - 306
• Main Authors: INOKUCHI, Taku, MORIWAKI, Yuji, TAKAHASHI, Sumio, TSUTSUMI, Zenta, KA, Tsuneyoshi, YAMAMOTO, Tetsuya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine 01-04-2005; Japanese Society of Internal Medicine
• Subjects: Adult; Autoantibodies - blood; Autoantibodies - immunology; Autoimmunity - immunology; Biological and medical sciences; coexistence; Crohn Disease - complications; Crohn Disease - immunology; Endocrinopathies; Female; Follow-Up Studies; General aspects; Graves Disease - blood; Graves Disease - complications; Graves Disease - immunology; Graves’ disease; Hashimoto’s thyroiditis; Humans; inflammatory bowel disease; Medical sciences; Non tumoral diseases. Target tissue resistance. Benign neoplasms; thyroid; Thyroid Hormones - blood; Thyroid Hormones - immunology; Thyroid. Thyroid axis (diseases); Thyroiditis, Autoimmune - blood; Thyroiditis, Autoimmune - complications; Thyroiditis, Autoimmune - immunology; Endocrinopathy; Human; Internal medicine; Graves' disease; coexistence; Hyperthyroidism; Thyroid diseases; Patient; Autoimmune disease; Review; inflammatory bowel disease; Inflammatory disease; Hashimoto's thyroiditis; Case study; Crohn disease; thyroid; Hashimoto thyroiditis; Graves disease; Digestive diseases; Intestinal disease; Bibliographic review; Ulcerative colitis
• ISSN: 0918-2918; 1349-7235
• DOI: 10.2169/internalmedicine.44.303

An increased prevalence of the association between autoimmune thyroid diseases and ulcerative colitis has been suggested, however, not with Crohn’s disease, as only 7 cases of thyroid disease coexisting with Crohn’s disease have been reported. Herein, we describe 2 patients with Crohn’s disease complicated with Graves’ disease or autoimmune thyroiditis, and also review other cases with those complications. Some immunological processes are suggested to be implicated in the pathogenesis of this association, however, the exact mechanism remains unclear.