Treatment of Benign Nodular Thyroid Disease

Abstract

Nodular thyroid disease is common. Palpable thyroid nodules were detected in 0.8 percent of adult men and 5.3 percent of adult women in Whickham, northeast England,¹ and in 1.5 percent of men and 6.4 percent of women between 30 and 59 years of age in Framingham, Massachusetts.² In the latter population, new nodules appeared in 0.1 percent per year during a 15-year follow-up period.³ Thyroid nodules are even more commonly detected when the thyroid is examined by ultrasonography.⁴ The overwhelming majority of these nodules are benign. Several reviews describe diagnostic strategies to distinguish between benign and malignant nodules⁵⁹ or . . .