THE CHANGING FREQUENCY OF THYROID CARCINOMA AND HASHIMOTO'S THYROIDITIS AS RELATED TO DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA, IODIZED SALT, AND RADIATION

摘要

The incidence of thyroid carcinoma and that of Hashimoto's thyroiditis are reported to be increasing both in series of surgically treated patients and in the number of cases of these diseases diag¬nosed in the younger age groups. This report presents an evaluation of these data, including the determination of whether or not the increase in the inci¬dence of each disease is apparent or real and consideration of the factors possibly responsible for the reported increases.nIn the case of the surgical treatment of either disease, it can be shown that a considerable fraction of the reported in¬crease is apparent only, and is largely a reflection of the decreasing number of thyroid operations performed for thyrotoxicosis and the use of more rigid diagnostic criteria in the selection of patients for surgery.