What is the thyroid gland?

To understand thyroid disease and thyroid gland cyst you need to know a few things about both thyroid and thyroid gland cyst. The thyroid gland is an endocrine gland, which is located on the front surface of the neck below Adam’s apple (it was so named because it is believed that when Adam took the apple he did not swallow it but stood in his throat). The thyroid has the shape of a shield, but in essence it looks more like a butterfly. It consists of 2 parts, the lobes and another part that connects the lobes together and is called the isthmus. It is a complex mechanism, as the slightest malfunction causes problems in humans.

The thyroid gland can be considered the “navigator” of the body or a regulatory center of its metabolism. By endocrine, it means that the thyroid gland produces substances, ie hormones, which through the circulation leave it and go to other organs, whose function they regulate (at least that was the prevailing view until recently). It is now thought to regulate the function of every cell in the human body.

THYROID FUNCTIONS

Its main function is the production of the hormones triiodothyronine (T3) and tetraiodothyronine T4 or thyroxine. To synthesize them, he uses the iodine found in the blood and which man ingests through water, salt, food. Lack of iodine leads, the thyroid gland, fatally to reduced production of hormones. Iodine-rich foods are seafood. That is why in the past people who lived in mountainous areas or people who did not regularly consume them had reduced production of thyroid hormones. Today, however, with the iodization of table salt, iodine poverty is rare.

The thyroid gland produces another hormone called calcitonin. It is related to blood calcium levels and is given as a medicine in osteoporosis. Thyroid diseases are related to its function and morphology.