Within the last 20 years there has been a definite increase in the incidence of thyroid carcinoma.8,12,15Both an absolute increase in numbers of cases and a relative increase in comparison with other forms of thyroid disease have been observed. Better diagnostic techniques and their wider usage have undoubtedly contributed to this increase. Some authors believe that we are now discovering the long-term consequences of using radiation to the neck of young children.3,6,14,15It is also possible that more children with abnormalities of the branchial cleft derivatives are now surviving to adolescence, where the growth disturbances become apparent as neoplasms. Simultaneously, the relative importance of cancer as a cause of death in children has increased. The discovery and wide use of powerful antimicrobial agents has reduced deaths from respiratory diseases to their present third position. Cancer has now become the second commonest cause of death in childhood, exceeded