[Basedow's disease and thyroid nodules. A common association]

The frequency of thyroid cancer associated with Graves' disease is a controversial subject. The authors retrospectively studied 110 consecutive patients operated for Graves' disease between 1991 and 1996. Each patient was evaluated by clinical and laboratory examination, ultrasound and isotope scan. None of the patients had a history of external beam cervical radiotherapy or radioactive iodine. All patients were treated by total or subtotal thyroidectomy. Thyroid nodules were detected in 28 patients (24 women, 4 men), and 6 of them corresponded to papillary carcinoma (5.5% of patients with Graves' disease and 21.4% of patients with Graves' disease associated with nodules). These data suggest the value of surgery in Graves' disease associated with thyroid nodules.