The thyroid nodule. Diagnosis and surgical treatment.

A definitive evaluation of different therapeutic approaches to patients with papillary and follicular thyroid carcinomas requires a prospective multicenter long-term study, with careful documentation of variations in histologic classification and all other factors that can possibly influence prognosis. Until such information is available, every patient with a thyroid nodule should be given the treatment that offers the best prospect for cure to the greatest possible number of patients; this treatment appears to be hemithyroidectomy for benign unilateral thyroid tumors and total thyroidectomy for carcinomas. These operations can be done safely by experienced surgeons without exceeding the morbidity or complication rate of less extensive treatments.