Thyroid carcinoma in childhood

About 50% of children with thyroid carcinoma present with regional lymph node metastases as the leading symptom. The "cold nodule" is the typical scintigraphic finding in thyroid cancer in infants. Papillary carcinoma is the predominating histologic type (80%) and has a good prognosis. Radical removal of the thyroid lobe with the primary lesion and subtotal resection of the opposite lobe, combined with selective neck dissection if necessary, seems to improve the results. Postoperative scintigraphic examinations detect remnants of malignant tissue requiring 131-iodine treatment and, finally, TSH-suppressive hormone is administered. In our own cases, the survival rate in 25 children was over 90%.