Clinical observations of 57 patients with thyroid cancer encountered from October 1972 to April 1977 in the ENT Department of Chiba National Hospital are reported.
Histological types were classified by Meissner's method into papillary (40 cases), follicular (10 cases) and undifferentiated carcinoma (7 cases).
The early signs of thyroid cancer are a solitary nodule in the thyroid gland, enlarged cervical nodes, an extensive swelling of the thyroid, hoarseness, discomfort in the neck, etc.
Pain, recent growth, dyspnea and fixation of the mass are all late symptoms.
Evaluation of the routine test which consists of employment of palpation,
131I scintigram and roentgenogram are also discussed.
For most patients, the primary treatment of thyroid cancer is surgery. When a malignant solitary nodule is revealed, a total lobectomy is performed on the side of the tumor and all lymph nodes and neighboring tissue along the trachea and oesophagus are excised.
When the tumor is infiltrated near the isthmus, a radical subtotal resection of the opposite lobe is carried out, leaving only a mass of normal thyroid tissue with its blood supply.
The incidence of nerve injury or permanent hypothyroidism occurs to a lesser extent than after simple lobectomy.
When nodes containing metastatic carcinoma are found to be located adjacent to the cervical region, a modified neck dissection is performed, often with the result that the sub-maxillary region is preserved.
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