Thyroid swellings in the Yemen Arab Republic

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the findings in 282 patients with thyroid swellings of variable sizes, who presented over a period of 15 years. The majority [72%] 227 originated from a limited part of the country; [80%] were seen in the last 6 years. Female patients predominated accounting for 95.5% [198]. Thyroid swellings removed at surgery were examined histopathologically. Malignant lesions constituted 29.8% of the cases. Of all operated cases only 25% returned for postoperative follow- up. The recurrence rate for these swellings was 0.7% for the benign lesions and 3.4% for the malignant