[Thyroid carcinoma]

To evaluate the results of surgical treatment in patients with thyroid carcinoma.

Eighty-five patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer between October 1970 and November 2004 were studied. Clinical presentation, diagnostic procedures, surgical treatment, histological diagnoses, complications and follow-up were analyzed. The information was processed using the BMDP statistical package. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics: chi-square test and t-test to evaluate differences. Survival was analyzed using the Mantel-Cox test, with a value of P=0.05.

Differentiated carcinoma was more frequent (usual variant in 84.5%; follicular carcinoma in 9.3% and tall cell carcinoma in 6.2%). Age: 48+/-5.48 years. Papillary carcinoma was diagnosed in younger patients than follicular carcinoma (p=0.03) and predominated in women aged less than 49 years. Symptoms were due to the presence of nodules in the neck, whether palpable or not. Seventy-four percent of nodules were non-echoic. Ultrasonography revealed the presence of a solitary nodule in 96%. Total thyroidectomy was performed in 82%, and hemi- or subtotal thyroidectomy was performed in 12%. Six percent of the patients received palliative treatment. Recurrence occurred in 6%.

Mortality in thyroid carcinoma is related to histological type, age, sex, tumoral size, the presence of regional metastases and palliative treatment.