Symposium on Evidence-Based Endocrine Surgery (2): Benign Thyroid Disease

Excerpt

In this, the second of a series of symposia on Evidence-based Endocrine Surgery, the surgical management of benign thyroid disease is reviewed. Henning Dralle, editor of a previous World Journal of Surgery symposium, on thyroid cancer, commented on the relative paucity of an evidence base in relation to the surgical management of endocrine disorders, including thyroid cancer, noting that the bulk of recommendations in endocrine surgery derive from the level IV evidence, at best. If that is the case for the surgical management of thyroid cancer, then the surgical management of benign thyroid disease is indeed the Cinderella of endocrine disorders in relation to an existing evidence base and relevant research. …