P nearly 1% of all human solid cancers. However, in recent years it has attracted the attention of medical soci- eties and the media after evidence has been provided that itis the human solid cancer showing the largest worldwide rise in incidence over the previous 10-20 years. The in- crease is mainly due to small (<1 cm) papillary thyroid cancers, usually referred to as papillary thyroid microcar- cinomas (PTMCs), and the reason for the increase is at- tributed to the fortuitous discovery of subclinical thyroid nodules as a consequence of the widespread use of neck ultrasound. If this is indeed the case, it is likely that we are facing an “epidemic” of thyroid tumors that in the past would have gone undiagnosed and never have become clinically apparent. PTMCs are found in otherwise normal thyroid glands or in multinodular goiters, sometimes as- sociated with lymph node metastases at presentation and locoregional recurrences during follow-up. Distant me- tastases are extremely rare but have been reported. Can- cer-related deaths are unusual.
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