The incidence of thyroid carcinoma in multinodular goiter: prospective study

Thyroid carcinoma (TC) is a relatively rare tumour, but it represents the most frequent form of cancer of the endocrine glands. Epidemiologically ascertained risk factors are ionising radiation, the presence of thyroid adenoma and multinodular goiter (MNG). Multinodularity of goiter should no longer be considered an indicator of probable benign disease. A prospective analysis was performed on patients operated for multinodular Goiter at Nepal Medical College from January 2009 to November 2011, in order to establish the incidence of carcinoma. The results of this study, demonstrate that in 13.63 % of the patients operated for goiter, the presence of a carcinoma was noticed in the definitive histopathologic examination. Such incidence percentage of MNG is in accordance with the data reported in published reports. Thus, we conclude that the risk of malignancy in MNG has not to be underestimated, and that a dominant nodule in MNG should be valued as if it were a solitary nodule in an otherwise normal gland.