Therapy for Thyroid Nodules

Abstract

Comments and Corrections1 June 1976Therapy for Thyroid NodulesRICHARD J. SAMPSON, M.D.RICHARD J. SAMPSON, M.D.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-84-6-750 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ExcerptTo the editor: I am concerned that Becker and associates, in last September'sAnnals of Internal Medicine(83:347-351, 1975), have suggested "total or near-total thyroidectomy" for patients with "cold" thyroid nodules found in a previously irradiated population. This therapy is advised by these authors because of the discovery of thyroid carcinoma away from the clinically demonstrated nodules and because of the multifocality of some of the discovered malignant tumors. Such radical therapy is, however, unwarranted because of the benign natural course of these tumors. There is abundant evidence both from long-term follow-up data and from autopsy data (1, 2) that...