Unilateral versus bilateral thyroid resection in differentiated thyroid carcinoma

Risk-group definitions have been developed recently in an attempt to clarify which operation to do for whom in differentiated thyroid carcinoma. The authors attempted to confirm the validity of an age-based risk-group definition for identifying patients at high risk of death from thyroid carcinoma and to test whether the degree of surgical resection in either high- or low-risk groups affected patient survival. An age-based risk-group definition was used in the retrospective analysis of 161 patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma seen at the Saskatoon Cancer Centre, University of Saskatchewan, between 1933 and 1964. A significant difference was found in the death rate between low- and high-risk groups (4.3% versus 47% respectively). This confirms the validity of such an age-based risk-group definition. Although a long-term survival benefit was suggested with the use of bilateral thyroid resection in high-risk patients, the difference was not significant. In low-risk patients, there was no difference in the survival rate between patients who underwent unilateral or bilateral thyroid resection, followed up for as long as 55 years.