“A goiter can be smooth and uniformly enlarged, called diffuse goiter, or it can be caused by one or more nodules within the gland, called nodular goiter. Nodules may be solid, filled with fluid, or partly fluid and partly solid.

Thyroid nodules are quite common. When examined with ultrasound imaging, as many as one-third of women and one-fifth of men have small thyroid nodules.

It’s possible for an enlarged thyroid to continue functioning well and producing the right amounts of hormones. In fact, most goiters and nodules don’t cause health problems.”.

USCF Health (www.ucsfhealth.org)/University of California San Francisco