INCIDENCE OF MALIGNANCY IN TOXIC AND NONTOXIC NODULAR GOITER

Many papers have appeared during the past 10 years calling attention to the high incidence of cancer among nontoxic nodular goiters that are surgically treated. Different authors have presented their data in somewhat different ways. Most have included patients with known cancer, patients suspected of having cancer, and patients thought to have benign goiter in a single group and have given the percentage of cancer found in resected specimens for the entire group. Many have indicated that cancer was found much more commonly in thyroid glands with single nodules than in multinodular glands.¹ Others have pointed out, however, that it is very difficult to determine clinically just how many nodules there are in a particular gland and that preoperative classification on this basis is of relatively little value.² Some have stated that nodular goiters are more likely to be cancerous in men than in women.³ All authorities