[Surgical tactics for treatment of thyroid gland diseases from an oncologic standpoint]

Analyzing the 30-year experience of a hospital, the authors come to a conclusion that the incidence of thyroid carcinoma among 10034 patients operated on has grown by 2.1 times. The number of thyroid cases grew mostly at the expense of a higher incidence of carcinomas of goiter-changed thyroid. The risk of appearance of malignant growth foci is virtually the same in different thyroid diseases and makes up 3%, as evidenced by the data of studies of the macro- and micro-preparations of the thyroid of 2930 patients with various thyroid conditions. This fact is explained by the effects of the same etiopathogenic factors studied in 595 patients with nodular tumors of the thyroid, though the incidence of these factors varies and is related to the nosologic entity. Prolonged follow-up and conservative therapy of thyroid patients are unjustified.