Thyroid disease in Blacks.

Three hundred and sixty consecutive patients with thyroid swellings were investigated and operated on at Ga-Rankuwa Hospital, Pretoria. Patients were referred from 34 homeland hospitals and from Caprivi, making this series a reasonable reflection of thyroid disease in Blacks. A noteworthy increase in the incidence of malignant thyroid tumours becomes evident when the series is compared with those in previously relevant publications. A more radical surgical approach is defended in the light of current neoconservatism.