Thyroid cancer in children and adolescents: current treatment and results

During the period 1972–1982, only 10 of the 105 patients under 20 years of age who underwent thyroid surgery (9.5%) had thyroid cancer. In these 10 cases total thyroidectomy was the treatment of choice. Lymphadenectomy was perfomed in 6 cases following intraoperative histological examination. In all cases, a total body scan was done 30 days after surgical excision. Three patients required complementary radiometabolic therapy. In three cases, lymph node metastases (found during follow-up visits at various times after the first procedure) were removed. All 10 patients are presently alive and without signs of disease. The authors, in their confirmation of the favorable prognosis of thyroid cancer in children and adolescents, stress the advantages of using near-total thyroidectomy and radiometabolic therapy in controlling the disease.