title: What happens in a 5-year follow-up of benign thyroid nodules.
abstract: To determine an optimal time for follow-up of benign thyroid nodules, we retrospectively evaluated 249 euthyroid patients with uni-multinodular goiter, who underwent annual visit, and significant events that occurred in 5 years' time were registered. A significant event (appearance of new nodule, increase of nodule diameter >50%, appearance of compressive symptoms, thyroidectomy, repetition of FNA on the same nodule, and execution of FNA on new nodule) occurred in 26.1% of patients, with more than one event occurring in the same patient in 27.7% of cases. The majority of events (71.9%) were observed at 24- and 36-month follow-up visit. These results suggest that a patient diagnosed with benign nodular goiter may be safely followed-up at a 2-3-year interval time.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, "V. Fazzi" Hospital, Piazza F. Muratore, 73100 Lecce, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9282-4530
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Negro