[Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of thyroid disease and their utility].

Thyroid dysfunction is a common disorder in daily clinical practice, however due to unspecific and diverse symptoms of the disease, it is sometimes hard to make a definite diagnosis. Japan thyroid association (JTA) published 'Guideline for the diagnosis of thyroid disease, 2010' and it is open to the public on the JTA website(http : //www.japanthyroid.jp/doctor/ guideline/japanese.html). English version of the guideline is also available. JTA also published 'Guideline for the management of subclinical hypothyroidism 2008' and 'Guideline for the diagnosis of thyroid storm, version 2'. The latter in English version has been published in Thyroid(http : //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22494618). The utility of these guidelines is discussed.