Evidence and thoughts about thyroid nodules that grow after they have been identified as benign by aspiration cytology.
Coherent management of thyroid nodules that grow after being identified as benign will vary depending on their biology. Some are thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) regulated, so a dose of levothyroxine that reduces TSH to the lower limits of normal (subsuppression) may prevent or reverse enlargement; others are controlled by poorly understood mechanisms that must be elucidated before effective medical treatment can be designed; a few are autonomous requiring obliteration, and a very few are "missed" malignancies that should be excised.
Blum
Manfred
M
Department of Medicine and Nuclear Endocrine Laboratory, Nuclear Medicine Division, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA. blum@nucmed.med.nyu.edu
Hussain
Mehboob A
MA
D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002455:Cell Division; D006801:Humans; D016606:Thyroid Nodule / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000378:metabolism; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000627:therapeutic use
D013972:Thyrotropin; D013974:Thyroxine