PEDIATRICS Vol. 18 No. 3 September 1956, pp. 501-505
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THE PROBLEM OF NODULES IN THE THYROID GLAND

E. B. ASTWOOD M.D.1

1 Department of Medicine Tufts University School of Medicine Boston, Massachusetts

The conclusions suggested by this brief review are that: (1) Nodules in the thyroid are so frequent that removal as a routine procedure is impractical and, if half of clinically normal glands are indeed nodular, impossible. (2) Histologic changes in thyroid tissue frequently suggest a diagnosis of cancer when no life-threatening lesion actually exists. (3) Fatal cancer of the thyroid is rare and operations upon nodular glands will neither cure nor prevent true thyroid carcinoma. (4) Currently the only practical method of treatment for nontoxic thyroid enlargement, nodular or diffuse, is suppression of the gland by the administration of thyroid preparations in adequate doses. Surgical procedures, roentgen irradiation and radioiodine therapy are largely palliative measures in true carcinoma of the thyroid gland.