[Occurrence and clinical characteristics of thyroid cancer in a hospital population]

The authors reviewed 83.250 clinical histories from the files of a hospital, among which they found 49 thyroid carcinomas whose characteristics they study. It is interesting to note the great incidence of papilliferous carcinoma (53 per cent of cases); a most marked incidence of the condition in female patients; the slight difference in the age of the patients with all types of carcinoma; and, above all, the atypicity of the onset symptoms in a large number of cases (28 per cent). According to these data, the authors suggest that it is advisable to bare in mind the possibility of the presence of thyroid carcinoma in patients with such unmatched pictures as suppurative thyroiditis, sciatica or cervical adenopathy, with absence of goiter, etc.