Clinical aspects of thyroid cancer.

Confusion still prevails regarding the selection of patients with thyroid nodules for surgical treatment. Classical features of malignancy do not apply to growths of the thyroid gland. Duration, size, presence of calcification, scintiscanning and response to thyroid feeding are not, in themselves, reliable indicators of the absence or presence of malignancy. In 78 personal thyroidectomies there was a 60% overall neoplasm rate and a 25% malignancy rate. Operation is indicated for the thyroid lesion which is solitary, cold, unresponsive to thyroid feeding or accompanied by obvious evidence of malignancy. Recent experience indicates that thyroid surgery has a low morbidity and negligible mortality. Surgical treatment of the common forms of thyroid cancer yields excellent results if it is complete and is expertly done.