Thyroid nodules in the elderly.

Thyroid nodules in the elderly are more frequent and more frequently malignant. Fine needle aspiration is the first step to diagnose these type of nodules, and thyroid scans and ultrasounds may be obtained in special cases. Thyroid suppression is frequently not effective in decreasing the size of the nodule and may cause subclinical or clinical thyrotoxicosis. It is not uncommon to discover that what initially was thought to be a solitary nodule is only the dominant nodule of a multinodular goiter.