Significance of Solitary Nontoxic Thyroid Nodules

Abstract

IN 1948 an epidemiologic investigation of cardiovascular disease was begun in Framingham, Massachusetts. Careful palpation of the thyroid region was included in the cardiac evaluation of each patient. In view of the continued disagreement over the significance of solitary thyroid nodules as related to carcinoma it now seems timely to make a preliminary report of the number of single thyroid tumors found in this population to date, with the ultimate aim of determining, by periodic examination, their relation to the development of thyroid cancer. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to report the number and prevalence of single, nontoxic . . .