Initial surgical management of thyroid cancer

The rapid increase in the rate of papillary thyroid cancer is likely caused by improved surveillance. A significant trend toward total thyroidectomy for low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer is present in the United States after a paradigm shift from treatment of macroscopic disease to the treatment of macroscopic and microscopic disease by increasingly sensitive tests. Compelling arguments for thyroid lobectomy and total thyroidectomy for low-risk thyroid cancer remain. The relatively small number of deaths from thyroid cancer, the small number of clinical thyroid cancers, and the huge number of incidental thyroid cancers are indicative of how little we understand the biology of this disease. Clinical medicine awaits biologic markers to refine treatment recommendations.