OCCULT PAPILLARY CARCINOMA OF THE THYROID GLAND: A STUDY OF 140 CASES OBSERVED IN A 30-YEAR PERIOD*

Of 140 occult papillary carcinomas treated surgically at the Mayo Clinic over a 30-year period, 58 were associated with nodal metastasis and 82 were found incidental to thyroid operations for other conditions. Of the 58 patients with nodal metastasis, 4 have died from causes unrelated to thyroid carcinoma and 1 patient is untraced. The remainder are alive, without evidence of carcinoma, three to thirty-two years after operation. Of the 82 patients without metastasis, 11 are dead of known causes other than thyroid carcinoma. The remainder are living after periods ranging up to thirty years, and in none is either local or distant metastasis known to have developed, although a few differences were noted. Histologically, no clear-cut line could be drawn between those lesions associated with nodal metastasis and those discovered incidental to operation for a variety of thyroid disorders.