PREDICTION OF MALIGNANCY IN SOLITARY THYROID-NODULES - VALUE OF PREOPERATIVE EXPLORATIONS

The thyroid nodule is a topic in clinical medicine which remains contr oversial because any thyroid disease can virtually turn up a thyroid n odule. The reliability of the diagnostic techniques for making the dis tinction between a benign and a malignant lesion varies. The various t echniques for the assessment of a solitary nonfunctional thyroid nodul e are described and their comparative values in establishing the natur e of the nodule, identifying patients with low likelihood of malignanc y - making it possible to defer surgery or to avoid it altogether - ar e analyzed. According to the results and for several reasons, controve rsy over the best approach of solitary cold nodule management can rema in. We propose an alternative approach and provide a personal guidelin e for the use of these tests.