The risk of cancer in endemic multinodular goitre

From 1971 to 1985 at the Ahmadu Bello University Hospital, Zaria, 245 patients with multinodular goitre were operated upon mostly for cosmesis. Clinically unsuspected malignancy was present in 50 (20 pc) of the resected specimens of which 26 were follicular and 20 papillary. This pattern conforms with the reports from other African Zones of endemic goitre where the frequency of cancer is lower in the clinically solitary nodular goitre. Thus, the management strategy ought to regard the multinodular goitre as pre-malignant and operations should be performed earlier on this account.