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Thyroid cancer: extent of thyroidectomy
1Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Cornell University Medical College, New York, NY 10021, USA.
Background:
Surgical resection is the key to management of thyroid cancer, but determining the optimal surgical procedure for individual cases has been controversial.
Methods:
The author reviews several large data bases that allow examination of prognostic criteria for long-term outcomes.
Results:
Patients can be classified into good- or poor-risk groups that assist defining the optimal surgical procedure. Routine use of total thyroidectomy in all patients with thyroid cancer is best avoided; however, patients with medullary cancer generally need total thyroidectomy.
Conclusions:
The definition of risk groups has clarified the options regarding choice of primary surgical therapy for differentiated thyroid cancer.