Size, Number, and Distribution of Thyroid Nodules and the Risk of Malignancy in Radiation-Exposed Patients Who Underwent Surgery

Abstract

In radiation-exposed patients, the following conclusions were made: 1) the likelihood that a nodule is malignant is independent of nodule number and size; 2) the likelihood of cancer is increased if more than one nodule is present; 3) evaluating the two largest nodules by fine-needle aspiration would have resulted in a significant number of cases being missed but none with large cancers; and 4) more than half of the patients with thyroid cancer had multifocal tumors.