Both suggestions are in accord with the rather leisurely growth of the majority of thyroid tumors, especially the frequent small papillary types. The annual mortality from thyroid cancer in 1977 was 4 per million for men and 5 per million for women. The discrepancy between incidence and mortality reflects the good prognosis for most thyroid cancers. A classification is given in Table 18-1. Thyroid tumors are rare in children and increase in frequency in each decade.
Carcinomas are three times as frequent in women as in men.
More recent studies suggest that in iodine deficient countries the number of nodules is increased and, as a consequence, also the number of thyroid cancers is increased 67b . Surveys conducted in the United States found no relation between usual geographic residence and incidence of thyroid cancer. Colloid variant 2. Malignant Tumors A. Differentiated 1. Pure papillary adenocarcinoma b.