[Causes of death in thyroid cancer patients]

To determine the necessary extent of surgery in thyroid cancer 128 autopsy reports of patients with thyroid cancer were studied. It was found that in a group of those died from cancer the specific weight of death issues due to papillary cancer, most frequently observed, was small (8.5%), consequently these patients would show a recovery postoperatively. Patients with one lobe involved die following its resection but, as a rule, not because of the process spreading to the second lobe. The prognosis for patients with thyroid cancer largely depends on the histological type of tumor rather than the extent of surgery. All this supports the idea that in appropriate cases it is feasible to continue oneself to the resection of the lateral thyroid lobe for this kind of tumor.