title: Thyroid nodules in childhood and adolescence--thirty years of experience.
abstract: In the thirty year period between 1966 and 1996, fifty-two patients underwent surgery for thyroid nodules at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. We aimed to review their presentation, investigation, histology, treatment and to follow up those who had malignant neoplasms. Forty-one of the fifty-two patients presented with a single thyroid nodule. Investigations performed included thyroid function tests (N = 32), thyroid autoantibodies (N = 21), an ultrasound of the thyroid (N = 26) and 99mTechnetium scanning (N = 32). Thirty-five of the neoplasms were benign, the follicular adenoma (N = 16) being the most common. Seventeen patients had malignant neoplasms, seven of whom had papillary and seven of whom had follicular carcinoma. Three patients had medullary carcinoma of the thyroid. Nine of the seventeen patients with thyroid malignancy received post-operative 131I treatment. At the time of this review, all patients were living.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Hormone Research, University of Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Lafferty
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Batch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D013960:Thyroid Function Tests; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy; D016606:Thyroid Nodule / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes