Mazzaferri E L, de los Santos E T, Rofagha-Keyhani S
Department of Internal Medicine, Ohio State University, College of Medicine, Columbus.
Med Clin North Am. 1988 Sep;72(5):1177-211. doi: 10.1016/s0025-7125(16)30736-2.
Thyroid nodules are common. Most are benign lesions since clinically important thyroid carcinoma is a relatively rare disease. The most sensitive and specific test for the diagnosis of thyroid cancer is fine-needle aspiration biopsy, but its diagnostic accuracy depends upon whether or not one excises all suspicious nodules, thus including them as correctly diagnosed. Nevertheless, fine-needle aspiration biopsy is the most sensitive, specific, and cost-effective test for thyroid cancer. Therapy depends upon the cause of the thyroid nodule.
