Incidence of cancer in nodular goitres

ABSTRACT

<p><b>INTRODUCTION</b>Nodular goitres occur commonly in the population and this paper aims to determine the incidence of thyroid cancer found in these goitres.</p><p><b>MATERIALS AND METHODS</b>This is a retrospective, consecutive analysis of the histology of 268 nodular goitres that had been operated on, from 2002 to 2004, in a single tertiary hospital in Singapore.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Fifty-seven goitres (21.2%) with multiple nodules were found to contain a malignancy. Forty-four thyroid cancers (77%) were of the papillary type. The mean age of presentation for benign nodular goitres was 47.9 years. The mean age of presentation for malignant thyroid tumours was 49.25 years.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The incidence of cancer is significant in nodular goitres and these malignant tumours are usually of the papillary type.</p>