The rate of tumour growth does not distinguish between malignant and benign thyroid nodules

Abstract

Objective: To clarify whether or not the rate of tumour growth is a useful measure for distinguishing papillary, thyroid cancer from benign nodules. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Teaching hospital, Japan. Subjects: Fourteen patients with 27 nodules (<20 mm) followed up for 20 months or more. Interventions: High resolution ultrasonography (US). Main outcome measure: Growth rate. Results: There were 15 papillary thyroid cancers and 12 benign nodules. The median tumour diameters at the first and the last US examination were 9.0 mm (range 6-19) and 9.0 mm (range 5-21) in papillary thyroid cancers followed up for 37 months (range 21-85), and 11.5 mm (range 4-19) and 11.5 mm (range 5-23)in benign nodules followed up for 38 months (range 20-84), respectively. Conclusion: The rate of growth of thyroid nodules as documented by ultrasound did not prove to be useful in distinguishing between malignancy and benign disease of small thyroid nodules (<20 mm).