Near-total thyroidectomy for carcinoma of the thyroid

There is controversy about the most appropriate treatment for patients with thyroid cancer. This study analyses our experience with 206 cases of thyroid cancer from an endemic goiterous area. There were 100 males and 106 females; patients presented at an earlier age with a short history. Thyroid cancers demonstrated an aggressive biological behaviour with an advanced stage at presentation (overt cancers in 51 per cent) and a relentless course with a mortality rate of 24.2 per cent for the well-differentiated tumours. Near-total thyroidectomy was performed in 126 patients. Multicentric foci of tumour were seen in 17.2 per cent of the well-differentiated cancers and 25.2 per cent of the cases of well-differentiated cancers who underwent near-total thyroidectomy developed loco-regional recurrence. Hemithyroidectomy was performed in 35 patients who refused completion total thyroidectomy at a second stage; 16.7 per cent of these patients developed a recurrence in the remaining contralateral lobe. Thus in our patients from an endemic goiterous area, near-total thyroidectomy is the treatment of choice particularly because of the frequent occurrence of follicular and anaplastic cancers (in 44.2 per cent) and because the course of the disease is more virulent.