Management of multinodular goiter in Germany (Papillon 2005): do the approaches of thyroid specialists and primary care practitioners differ?

AIM

Large-scale survey to focus on management of multinodular goiter and to compare the approaches of practitioners in primary care and thyroid specialists in Germany.

METHODS

Replies to a questionnaire were received from 2,191 practitioners and 297 thyroid specialists between June 1 and September 30, 2005. The hypothetical cases and their modifications described multinodular goiters of different sizes with and without toxic nodules.

RESULTS

In the workup, TSH determination and thyroid sonography were found to be standard procedures. Scintigraphy was selected by 80.2% of practitioners and 92.9% of specialists (p < 0.001), in preference to fine needle aspiration cytology (17.9% of practitioners and 34.5% of the specialists, p < 0.001). Only 6.1% of practitioners and 24.4% of specialists (p < 0.001) advocated calcitonin screening. Euthyroid multinodular goiter (50-80 ml) was treated medically by 67.1% of practitioners and 65.6% of specialists, the combination of levothyroxine with iodine being clearly preferred (54.5% of practitioners, 52.3% of specialists). For toxic nodular goiter the preference for radioiodine therapy was significantly higher (p < 0.001) among specialists (67.7%) than among practitioners (47.5%). Referral to surgery was recommended for cold nodules with negative cytology by 64.9% of practitioners and 73.5% of specialists (p = 0.004).

CONCLUSIONS

Treatment and diagnostic procedures are used to nearly the same extent in primary care and specialist institutions, but the opinions diverge over the issues of calcitonin screening and referral for radioiodine therapy.