Evaluación y tratamiento del nódulo tiroideo

Thyroid nodules have an incidence of 4-9% among adult population, finding most of them in persons of more than 40 years old, being 3-4 times more frequent in women. Malignancy incidence is about 3-30% of nodules. Although thyroid cancer represent 1% of all malignancies, it is the 35 th cause of all the cancer deaths. The goal of the study was to make an analysis of prevalence, diagnostic tests and treatment of the thyroid nodule. Material and methods consisted of an Internet search and review of the literature. Selection of patients with thyroid nodule for surgical treatment was based on clinical examination, fine needle aspiration biopsy, and other diagnostic tests. Treatment of the thyroid nodule has changed in the last two decades, from surgically removing all of them, to surgically treat only those with suspected or proven malignancy by means of fine needle aspiration biopsy or those that don’t respond to hormonal suppressive treatment, allowing to treat conservatively the benign ones.