TERT and toxic diffuse goiter: Almost all previous studies reported no collective prevalence of TERT promoter mutations in normal thyroid parenchyma or benign thyroid lesions [11, 12, 15, 16, 30, 69], such as nodular goiter (hyperplasia lesions), diffuse toxic goiters, lymphocytic (Hashimoto’s) thyroiditis, and follicular thyroid adenomas (FTA).