Cancer of the thyroid.

Abstract

SATISFACTORY treatment of cancer of the thyroid depends not upon static morphologic standards but on a dynamic concept based upon an understanding of the biologic characteristics of these tumors. The physician faced with the problem of thyroid malignancy needs the answers to questions regarding the functional and biologic potential rather than a microscopic description of dead tissue. Of itself, the histology of a tumor has no value unless it can be utilized to predict how the cells of the tumor will act. This concept of cancer as living tissue is particularly important in any study of thyroid cancer because of the biologic and histologic variability of the tumors, the protean manifestations of the disease, the endocrinologic aspects of many of the tumors and the availability of isotopic iodine for use in study and treatment. The present study consists in the evaluation of 190 cases with an established diagnosis of cancer of the thyroid which were admitted to the Massachusetts General Hospital from 1931 through 1951. The objective was the accumulation of information which would help to direct our therapy along rational lines, based on the biologic characteristics of the various types of tumors.