[Evaluation of results of surgery]

Surgical treatment of isolate thyroid nodules has a twofold aim: 1) obtaining an accurate diagnosis of benignancy or malignancy, which remains impossible on an extemporaneous basis in 5 to 10% of cases for technical reasons; 2) tailoring tumor exeresis according to the histological nature of the tumor. Scheduled lobo-isthmectomy is typically the standard treatment for benign thyroid nodules. While thyroid surgery on a whole is very benign today, surgery for isolate thyroid nodules is the most benign of all types. There is no mortality, and morbidity requires only allowing for a risk of recurrent paralysis in 0 to 2% of cases. Secondary recurrence of the nodule on the remaining lobe or compensating hypertrophy of said lobe requires second surgery in 5% of cases. The cost of surgery for thyroid nodules is low, but this statement should be qualified by the requirements for regular medical follow-up of the patients after surgery. Surgery for isolate thyroid nodules is both preventive and curative. For benign nodules, it allows avoiding the development of functional impairment caused by an increase in the volume of the nodule. In case of malignant nodules, which generally correspond to differentiated cancers, it allows treating the cancer. General extension of this exeresis surgery has resulted in the regression and even eradication of anaplastic cancers over the past thirty years.