Thyrotoxicosis and Thyroid Cancer

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Abstract
It is generally held that thyroid cancer is uncommonly associated with thyrotoxicosis. Nine patients with thyroid cancer among 720 patients with thyrotoxicosis are reported. Three patients presented with features of malignancy together with thyrotoxicosis (Group A), one of whom had triiodothyronine (T3)-toxicosis. The remaining 6 patients were diagnosed following histological examination of tissues removed during subtotal thyroidectomies for hyperthyroidism (Group B). Two patients in Group A had follicular carcinoma; the rest were papillary in type. All the patients were rendered euthyroid initially, followed by ablative therapy for 2 patients in Group A and 4 patients in Group B. All but one are alive after 1-9 yr (mean of 3.4 yr). The diagnosis of thyroid carcinoma is infrequently considered in the presence of thyrotoxicosis. The association is not clinically apparent in the majority of patients. The optimum management of such occult malignancies in thyrotoxicosis remains to be defined.