The increase in the incidence of thyroid cancer is accompanied by a mortality rate that is stable or perhaps even slightly decreasing. This phenomenon is due to the increased frequency of papillary microcarcinomas (thyroid tumors with a diameter of less than 1 cm), which is presumably attributable to the improved diagnosis enabled by high resolution ultrasound and fine needle aspiration cytology. The American and European Thyroid Associations have recently published new guidelines for the diagnosis and therapy of differentiated thyroid tumors. These guidelines are aimed at minimizing the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures without reducing their effectiveness. This goal is particularly important for papillary thyroid microcarcinoma patients, who have an excellent prognosis and almost normal life expectancy. This article summarizes the history of thyroid surgery and introduces papillary thyroid microcarcinoma--an important topic in modern thyroid oncology. Current methods for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care of this disease are discussed.

• MeSH
• Carcinoma diagnosis   therapy   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Thyroid Neoplasms diagnosis   therapy   MeSH
• Otolaryngology standards   trends   MeSH
• Thyroid Cancer, Papillary MeSH
• Carcinoma, Papillary MeSH
• Radiotherapy standards   trends   MeSH
• Practice Guidelines as Topic * MeSH
• Thyroidectomy standards   trends   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Review MeSH
• Geographicals
• Europe MeSH
• United States MeSH