Solitary Thyroid Nodule

Introduction

• May be hot or cold 
  • hot signifies thyroid hormone production with ¹³¹I uptake
  • cold signifies no thyroid hormone production
• Cause depends on gender and age
  • men
    • majority are malignant
  • women
    • majority are benign cysts or follicular adenomas
    • minority are malignant
  • children
    • majority are maligant
• Large increase in malignancy potential if patient has previous exposure to ionizing radiation 

Evaluation

• Fine needle aspiration 
• Thyroid hormone studies