If goitre is caused by iodine deficiency, small doses of iodide in the form of Lugols iodine or KI solution are given. If the goitre is associated with an underactive thyroid, thyroid supplements are used as treatment. Sometimes a partial or complete thyroidectomy is required. Epidemiology
Goitre is more common among women, but this includes the many types of goitre caused by autoimmune problems, and not only those caused by simple lack of iodine. History
Chinese physicians of the Tang Dynasty (618–907) were the first to successfully treat patients with goitre by using the iodine-rich thyroid gland of animals such as sheep and pigs—in raw, pill, or powdered form. This was outlined in Zhen Quans (d. 643 AD) book, as well as several others. One Chinese book, The Pharmacopoeia of the Heavenly Husbandman, asserted that iodine-rich sargassum was used to treat goitre patients by the 1st century BC, but this book was written much later.In the 12th century, Zayn al-Din al-Jurjani, a Persian physician, provided the first description of Graves disease after noting the association of goitre and a displacement of the eye known as exophthalmos in his Thesaurus of the Shah of Khwarazm, the major medical dictionary of its time. The disease was later named after Irish doctor Robert James Graves, who described a case of goitre with exophthalmos in 1835.
Goitre can also result from cyanide poisoning, which is particularly common in tropical countries where people eat the cyanide-rich cassava root as the staple food. Sarcoidosis
Amyloidosis
Hydatidiform mole
Cysts
Acromegaly
Pendred syndrome

Diagnosis
Goitre may be diagnosed via a thyroid function test in an individual suspected of having it. Types
A goitre may be classified either as nodular or diffuse. Nodular goitres are either of one nodule (uninodular) or of multiple nodules (multinodular). Growth pattern
Uninodular goitre: one thyroid nodule; can be either inactive, or active (toxic) – autonomously producing thyroid hormone. Multinodular goitre: multiple nodules; can likewise be inactive or toxic, the latter is called toxic multinodular goitre and associated with hyperthyroidism. These nodules grow up at varying rates and secrete thyroid hormone autonomously, thereby suppressing TSH-dependent growth and function in the rest of gland. Inactive nodules in the same goitre can be malignant. Thyroid cancer is identified in 13.7% of the patients operated for multinodular goitre. Diffuse goitre: the whole thyroid appearing to be enlarged due to hyperplasia.Size
Class I: the goitre in normal posture of the head cannot be seen; it is only found by palpation. Class II: the goitre is palpable and can be easily seen. Class III: the goitre is very large and is retrosternal (partially or totally lying below the sternum), pressure results in compression marks. Treatment
Goitre is treated according to the cause. If the thyroid gland is producing an excess of thyroid hormones (T3 and T4), radioactive iodine is given to the patient to shrink the gland.