Description
There has been significant progress in our understanding of thyroid cancer over the past few decades. The natural history of thyroid tumours is no longer a mystery and the prognostic factors identified are capable of predicting fairly accurately patient outcome. Improvements in management have mostly been dependent on information from large retrospective series, permitting treatment policies and followup protocols to become evidence-based. However, there are still many areas open to debate. The apparent rise in incidence, among children in particular in Western Europe following the Chernobyl accident, has renewed our interest and research is ongoing in many fields. Most importantly, there has been a general acceptance that thyroid cancer should be managed by multidisciplinary teams in specialised units using evidence-based guidelines. Registration of all new cases with prospective data collection and regular audit of outcomes are expected to improve the standard of management.
