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VIDEO: Less surgery, active surveillance viable option for low-risk thyroid cancer
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DENVER — In this video exclusive, Gregory W. Randolph, MD, FACS, FACE, the Claire and John Bertucci Endowed Chair in Thyroid Surgical Oncology at Harvard Medical School and President of the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, discusses his presentation on the surgical approaches to low-risk thyroid cancer.
Randolph explained that in some thyroid cancer, active surveillance is effective since the vast majority of papillary microcarcinomas do not require treatment.
“It’s important, though, that the patients be screened properly, and that requires an ultrasonographic analysis to ensure that the lesions are contained within the thyroid,” he said.
Randolph added that surgical treatment for low-risk cancers may increase complications but total thyroidectomies continue to be performed.