ABSTRACT
On a summer morning in 1949, a call to the thyroid unit of the Massachussets General Hospital from the Ambulatory Pediatric Clinic requested help with a newly arrived patient. This proved to be a 16-year-old who was startling in appearance to say the very least. She sat in a crib screaming. She was obviously profoundly mentally deficient. A huge multilobed mass protruded from the space between her manubrium and chin. A careful examination disclosed every evidence of hypothyroidism, except that the region of the thyroid was warm to touch. A bruit and thrill confirmed the massive blood flow through the thyroid as did the huge vessels in relief below the surface of the skin of the anterior neck.
