The Natural History of Thyroid Cancer: A Review of 301 Cases*

THE natural history of cancer of the thyroid is not a subject that lends itself to easy exposition, since to develop it properly one would have to have at his disposal a large number of cases of thyroid cancer that were entirely untreated. We have no such body of material and know of no published account of substantial numbers of untreated thyroid cancers. Hence, this discussion will of necessity deal chiefly with the natural history of the disease up to the time that it was proved to be thyroid cancer. It will be seen that after treatment the natural history of some forms of thyroid cancer is substantially altered, whereas in others it is little affected. All students of thyroid cancer recognize that there are wide differences in the clinical behavior in the major histologic types of these tumors. It is less well known, however, that considerable variations in the clinical course of tumors falling within the same broad histologic grouping, may well be expected.