부산대학교 도서관

The main concern of patients and physicians alike, when dealing with the solitary thyroid nodule, is to diagnose the few cancers (approximately 5%) as rapidly and cost-effectively as possible and to reduce superfluous thyroid surgery. Very little is known regarding the natural history of thyroid nodules, since data are highly selected and generally concern patients with small nodules without suspicion of malignancy and not causing pressure symptoms or cosmetic complaints. With these restrictions, most nodules appear not to change appreciably over time. The nodules that increase in size are predominantly solid and carry a higher risk of harbouring thyroid carcinoma than those predominantly cystic, being more prone to decrease in size or even disappear. This chapter focuses on the palpably discrete swelling within an otherwise normal gland in the clinically and biochemically euthyroid patient. The toxic nodule is dealt with in Chapter 3.3.11, and thyroid malignancy in Chapters 3.5.4–3.5.7.