A clinical study of 71 patients with thyroid tumors

Seventy one patients with thyroid tumors received surgical treatment in our hospital from April 1985 to March 1988. 1) The pathological diagnosis in 39 patients (55%) was benign tumor (22 adenomatous goiters, 15 follicular adenomas, 2 cysts) and in 32 patients (45%) it was malignant tumor (27 papillary carcinomas, 3 follicular carcinomas, 1 malignant lymphoma, 1 squamous cell carcinoma). 2) For the preoperative diagnosis, delayed scintigraphy with 2a1T 1 C 1 and fine needle aspiration biopsy were quite useful in differentiating malignant thyroid tumors from benign ones. 3) Intraoperative frozen sections were helpful when the preoperative diagnosis was incorrect. 4) Cervical lymph node metastases were found in 75% of the patients with papillary or follicular carcinomas. 5) When cervical lymph node metastasis was obvious clinically, radical or modified neck dissections were performed. In patients without clinically apparent metastases, local neck dissection and sampling of the internal jugular chain were performed. When microscopic metastases were found in frozen sections, appropriate neck dissections were added.