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The Role of Surgery for Nodular Hyperthyroidism

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Abstract

The management of nodules in the setting of hyperthyroidism presents a challenge for the clinician and patient. The workup should focus on distinguishing the three main etiologies of hyperthyroidism: Graves’ disease, toxic multinodular goiter, and toxic solitary nodule. The primary imaging consists of ultrasound and radioactive iodine uptake scanning. Additional workup aims to rule out the presence of cancer in any of the nodules. This is accomplished via fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy. When choosing the definitive treatment strategy, surgery becomes an attractive solution because it eliminates the need for future surveillance of the nodules, alleviates compressive symptoms from the nodules or goiter, and resolves any current or future concern about thyroid cancer.

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Correspondence to David F. Schneider MD, MS .

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Elfenbein, D.M., Schneider, D.F. (2017). The Role of Surgery for Nodular Hyperthyroidism. In: Roman, S., Sosa, J., Solórzano, C. (eds) Management of Thyroid Nodules and Differentiated Thyroid Cancer. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43618-0_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43618-0_9

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