Differentiated thyroid cancers of follicular cell origin

Abstract

In the early 1800s, thyroid cancer was one of the first thyroid diseases to be described. Although trends for all other cancers are decreasing, the incidence of thyroid carcinoma is increasing and an estimated 37,340 new cases of thyroid cancer are expected to be diagnosed in 2008. Thyroid cancer (TC) is now the sixth most common malignancy diagnosed in women [1]. The increase in TC incidence can be predominantly attributed to the detection and diagnosis of small (<2 cm) papillary thyroid carcinomas [2]. Although approximately 1 in 127 persons will be diagnosed with TC over their lifetime, TC mortality is low with an estimated 1,590 deaths expected in 2008 [1]. Overall, 5-year TC survival rates have remained stable at 93% from1975 to 1977 and 97% from 1996 to 2003 [1]. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.