Surgical considerations and approach to thyroid cancer.
Patients with thyroid cancer can be safely treated by an experienced endocrine surgeon. More extensive initial surgery such as total or near-total thyroidectomy seems to decrease tumor recurrence and prolong life. When such operations can be done with minimal complications, we believe it is the treatment of choice because even low-risk patients have a 4% or 5% risk of eventually dying of thyroid cancer. If this risk of death from thyroid cancer can be decreased to 1% or 2% and the rate of serious complications is 1% or 2%, the authors believe total thyroidectomy is indicated. Most patients can be discharged within 1 day of total thyroidectomy.
Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
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D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000601:surgery; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000601:surgery; D018265:Carcinoma, Papillary, Follicular / Q000601:surgery; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D011300:Preoperative Care; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D013965:Thyroidectomy