[New approach to diagnosis of minute and small thyroid cancer].
Between 1978 and 1981, 130 patients with primary thyroid cancer were treated and 39 cases (30%) of them were diagnosed as thyroid cancer with less than 10 mm diameter. Here, I defined cancer with a diameter less than 5 mm as minute cancer, that with a 5-10 mm diameter as small, and that with a diameter more than 10 mm as clinical cancer. Although diagnosis of minute and small thyroid cancer has been reportedly difficult to be done, a progress in diagnosis technology has made these cancers detectable to some extent. Diagnosis of the minute cancer, however, is still difficult task. The pursuit lesion was identified only in 29% of the minute cancer cases and a high risk of hazardous coexisting minute cancers was observed in patients with adenomatous goiter and follicular adenoma which showed multiple calcification images. Most of the small cancer could be diagnosed by xeroradiography, aspiration cytology. The presence of lymph node metastases was found in 14% of minute cancer, in 44% of the small cancer and in 75% of the clinical thyroid cancer.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000473:pathology; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology