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The Thyroid Nodule: Evaluation, Risk of Malignancy, and Management

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Thyroid Cancer

Abstract

Palpable nodules of the thyroid are frequently encountered in clinical practice, and their evaluation requires the physician to be familiar with a growing number of diagnostic tools that can be employed to identify those nodules that may represent cancer and require surgical intervention. Until recently, what constituted optimal clinical management of a thyroid nodule varied from center to center and even between physicians at a given center. The routine management of thyroid nodules today is less controversial as our major professional organizations have published consensus guidelines for the diagnosis and management of thyroid nodules (Gharib and Papini, Endocrinol Metab Clin N Am 36:707–35, 2007; Iyer and Shaha, Clin Oncol 22:405–12, 2010; Miller, Med Clin N Am 94:1003–15, 2010; Haugen et al., Thyroid 25: doi:10.1089/thy.2015.0020; print version in Thyroid 26:2016; Cooper et al., Thyroid 19:1167–214, 2009; National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) J Natl Comprehensive Cancer Netw. 2011; Version 3.2011; Wartofsky, Thyroid 19:1139–43, 2009) that have been widely accepted.

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  1. Department of Medicine, MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Georgetown University School of Medicine, 110 Irving Street, N.W., Washington, DC, 20010-2975, USA

    Leonard Wartofsky MD, MACP

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Correspondence to Leonard Wartofsky MD, MACP .

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  1. Department of Medicine, MedStar Washington Hospital Center Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA

    Leonard Wartofsky

  2. Nuclear Medicine Research MedStar Research Institute and Washington Hospital Center, Georgetown University School of Medicine Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC, USA

    Douglas Van Nostrand

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Wartofsky, L. (2016). The Thyroid Nodule: Evaluation, Risk of Malignancy, and Management. In: Wartofsky, L., Van Nostrand, D. (eds) Thyroid Cancer. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3314-3_20

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