Carcinoma of the Thyroid in Surgical and Postmortem Material

Abstract

Rather than a rare finding at autopsy as previously claimed, carcinoma of the thyroid (usually unsuspected clinically) was found in 1.79% of unselected cases. This is more than 20 times the incidence observed at routine autopsy (0.08%) in which examination of thyroid is incomplete or not included. Case reports in the literature confirm the experience of the authors that a small but significant proportion of clinically occult thyroid carcinomas can result in widespread meta-stases and death. Patients with thyroid nodules, whether single or multiple, should be evaluated for the presence of cancer; those patients not treated operatlvely, and those in whom a small non-metastasizing carcinoma Is discovered at operation, should be followed for many yr.