Change in the radicality of treatment of differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Thyroid carcinomas are rare among other human malignancies. Their incidence shows an increasing trend with the growing availability and accuracy of diagnostic options. Examination of a patient with thyroid disease relies on medical history, clinical examination, laboratory findings, and imaging studies, among which ultrasonography has been the method of choice for several decades. The range of genetic methods in clinical practice is continually expanding. The principles of treatment for differentiated carcinoma have been established for many decades. Current attention is focused on genetic testing and expanding the possibilities of biological treatment. Surgical treatment of thyroid diseases had very poor outcomes for nearly 1,000 years, with high mortality and morbidity. The refinement of surgical techniques, technological progress, and a number of medical discoveries made safe and radical thyroid surgery possible. From the era of extensive surgeries in the second half of the 20th century, there has been a gradual de-escalation of surgical procedures. National and international organization guidelines serve to provide a unified approach to patients at different stages of differentiated thyroid carcinoma, and are updated and refined hand in hand with the development of diagnostic and therapeutic options. Guidelines from professional societies for the treatment of differentiated thyroid carcinomas are dynamically evolving, not entirely uniform, and are meant to serve as recommendations that allow the surgeon to optimize treatment while considering the individual patient, with a tendency toward de-escalation of surgical procedures. Key words.