Surgical management of papillary and follicular carcinoma of the thyroid.

The clinical outcome in 155 patients with papillary or follicular carcinoma of the thyroid gland operated on over a 25-year period demonstrated no difference in survival rates or incidence of recurrent tumor between those treated by total thyroidectomy and those undergoing less than total thyroidectomy. However, the complication rate was statistically significantly higher in those undergoing total thyroidectomy. Partial thyroidectomy with lobectomy on the side of the tumor, resection of the thyroid isthmus, and simple excision of enlarged cervical lymph nodes, if present, appears to be equally effective and safer.