Invited Commentary

Excerpt

The article by Uruno et al., titled “Favorable surgical results in 433 patients with papillary thyroid cancer,” raises several interesting questions while it addresses the overall favorable management of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) in a patient population older than 70 years of age. It is a landmark achievement to collect such a large number of patients with PTC that is uncontaminated by any other cell types—e.g., follicular, atypical, or medullary cells. Papillary thyroid cancer is frequently said, as in this article, to be a relatively benign malignancy, with up to 8.6% of unsuspected micropapillary carcinomas being identified at autopsy.1 Because of this view, patients with PTC may not be offered optimal treatment. …