Thyroid carcinoma

Abstract

Although thyroid carcinoma is relatively uncommon, approximately 33,550 new cases will be diagnosed in the United States in 2007. It occurs 2 to 3 times more often in women than in men, and with the incidence increasing by 4% per year, it is currently the eighth most common malignancy diagnosed in women. Although it occurs more often in women, mortality rates are higher for men, probably because they are usually older at the time of diagnosis (65-69 years vs. 50-54 years in women). Interestingly, the incidence of thyroid carcinoma increased almost 240% between 1950 and 2000, but mortality rates decreased more than 44%. Important updates to the 2007 guidelines include revised criteria for categorizing disease, revised recommendation for thyroid-stimulating hormone-stimulated thyroglobulin in some cases, and expanded CT recommendations for anaplastic carcinoma.