Surgical decision making in the management of well-differentiated thyroid cancer.

The incidence of thyroid cancer in the United States has been increasing. The biologic behavior of well-differentiated thyroid cancer (WDTC) can vary from indolent tumor to an aggressive disease with invasion of critical structures and/or widespread distant metastasis. Therefore, the risk stratification is crucial in understanding the biology of thyroid cancer, its prognosis and appropriate therapeutic interventions. In fact, understanding the nuances of biological behavior of thyroid carcinomas lays the foundation for the idea of selective surgical management of this disease.