Surgical trends in the management of thyroid lymphoma.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the changing trends and current role of surgery for the management of thyroid lymphoma.


METHODS
A retrospective review of 50 surgical patients with a final diagnosis of thyroid lymphoma over a 35-year period.


RESULTS
All patients presented with an enlarging mass, with half having compressive symptoms on presentation. Two-thirds of patients had co-existent histological features of Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Surgery for patients with thyroid lymphoma peaked in the late 1970s (0.79% of all thyroid operations performed) followed by a significant decline in the 1980s with a current frequency of only 0.16% (p=0.009). A larger number of thyroid resections intended as a curative procedure was performed during the first half of this series compared to the latter half (p=0.05). There was no difference in disease-free survival between patients treated by thyroid resection when compared with an open biopsy (p=0.4875).


CONCLUSIONS
The surgical management of thyroid lymphoma has changed with time. Currently a larger proportion of patients are undergoing surgery in order to achieve a histological diagnosis rather than with therapeutic intent, however, an important role for surgery still exists in the management of a patient with severe airways obstruction.
Meyer-Rochow
G Y
GY
University of Sydney Endocrine Surgical Unit, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia.
Sywak
M S
MS
Reeve
T S
TS
Delbridge
L W
LW
Sidhu
S B
SB
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D013965:Thyroidectomy / Q000639:trends*