CANCER OF THE THYROID IN CHILDREN: A REPORT OF 28 CASES*†

Abstract

THE following report is an analysis of 28 cancers of the thyroid seen in children between the ages of 4 and 18 years at the Memorial Hospital. They constitute 6.5 per cent of the 430 cancers of the thyroid seen at Memorial Hospital during the sixteen-year period between 1932 and 1948. The purposes of this report are threefold: To discuss the histologic types and metastasizing properties of cancers of the thyroid in the children that we have studied. To discuss possible etiologic factors as suggested from an analysis of environmental, familial, and other biologic factors recorded in the histories of these patients. To emphasize the importance of considering cancer of the thyroid in the differential diagnosis of tumors of the neck in children. The 28 cases are catalogued according to the classification of thyroid carcinoma used at Memorial Hospital. This is a relatively simple classification which can be correlated with the clinical prognosis and the radioiodine concentrating function of the tumors as demonstrated by radioautographic studies.