title: Surgical treatment of thyroid diseases in elderly patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We evaluated the safety of thyroid surgery in elderly patients, in whom surgical procedures usually are considered more hazardous than in younger patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The medical records of all the patients who were aged 70 years or older who had undergone thyroid surgery between January 1998 and June 2008 were reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 320 patients were included. The preoperative diagnosis was multinodular goiter in 171 cases, toxic goiter in 59 cases, suspicious or indeterminate thyroid nodule in 60 cases, and thyroid carcinoma in 30 patients. Total thyroidectomy was performed in 283 patients, thyroid lobectomy in 15 patients, and a completion thyroidectomy was performed in 22 patients. The final histology showed thyroid cancer in 86 patients and benign disease in 234.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Thyroid surgery in patients aged 70 years or older is safe and the relatively high rate of thyroid carcinoma and toxic goiter may justify an aggressive approach.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrine Surgery-Department of Surgery, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, L. go A. Gemelli 8, 00168 Rome, Italy. marcoraffaelli@rm.unicatt.it
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raffaelli
authors.forename: Rocco
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bellantone
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Princi
authors.forename: Carmela
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Crea
authors.forename: Esther D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fadda
authors.forename: Celestino P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Lombardi
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends; D013959:Thyroid Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D013965:Thyroidectomy / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome