Malignant Disease of the Thyroid

Cancer of the thyroid is a rare disease. Only 350 deaths from thyroid malignancy were recorded in England and Wales in 1957 out of a total of 95,6oo deaths due to malignant disease, and 1,050 in the United States of America out of 253,000. However, considerable information about thyroid cancer is accumulated in the many hundreds of cases reported, chiefly in the United States of America, during the past 15 years. Aspects of particular interest are the comparatively high incidence in children, the remarkably protracted course in many patients and the therapeutic effects of radioactive iodine on the one hand and of thyroxine on the other. Further, views have changed radically in recent years on the aetiological significance in thyroid cancer of iodine deficiency, thyroid adenomata and previous irradiation of the thyroid gland.