Thyroid Carcinoma in Sendai, Japan

Microscopic examination of serially step-sectioned thyroid glands from 102 unselected autopsies of Japanese adults living in northeastern Honshu, Japan, revealed 28.4% occult papillary carcinomas. This is essentially similar to the findings reported in the Japanese living in Hawaii and the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission group in Southern Japan. The prevalence of occult thyroid carcinomas in the Japanese appears to be approximately the same in Northern and Southern Japan and in Hawaii.