Carcinoma of the thyroid: Differential behaviour in solitary and multinodular tumours

Abstract

One hundred and sixty‐three cases of thyroid carcinoma were treated between 1979 and 1983. The cancers were classified as solitary nodules or carcinomas in multinodular goitres according to their clinical presentation. Analysis revealed a significantly higher incidence of T₀/T₁ in the solitary nodular carcinoma group (P < 0·001) and a lower incidence of metastatic disease (P < 0·05) compared with multinodular carcinoma. Survival for the T₀/T₁ subgroup of solitary nodular carcinoma was significantly better compared with the same subgroup of multinodular carcinoma (P < 0·05).