[Atypical adenoma of the thyroid gland [author's transl)]

A total of 2204 nonmalignant goiters surgically removed during the years 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1966 were reexamined. Among them 181 adenomas were found, which were classified as 'atypical' by cytological respectively histological means. Those patients who had been primarily operated on at our hospital were questioned about the clinical course after the operation. Our results show a benign development of atypical thyroid adenomas, which means no recurrence of this type of adenoma nor metastasing in either of the cases during the observation period. The criteria of the WHO (Hedinger u. Sobin, 1974) for malignancy typing (with special emphasis on vascular invasion and caposular penetration and less attention to the histological structure and nuclear polymorphism) are thus verified. With exact histological exclusion of malignity, we believe, that in case of atypical adenoma, thyroidectomy is not necessary. Nevertheless a careful postoperative control of the patient is strictly indicated.