Therapeutic strategy for adenomatous goiter from the viewpoint of postoperative outcome and epidermal growth factor receptor study

Adenomatous goiter (AG) is regarded as a benign tumor-like lesion. In the present study, both the postoperative outcome and the localization of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R) were investigated to determine proper therapeutic modalities for AG. In this series, 377 surgical patients were studied. Immunohistochemical observation was carried out according to the ABC procedure. Results were as follows: 1) among the all 377 patients, primary cases were 343 and the remainder, 34 cases (9%), recurrent, 2) majority of the 34 recurrent patients showed multinodular goiter type occupying one whole lobe or both sides. Initial surgical strategy for these cases was only enucleation of the all nodules confirmed macroscopically, 3) coexistence of cancer in AG was observed in 18 cases (5%). Seventeen out of them were latent carcinomas found in the multinodular goiter, and 4) those multinodular patients associated with latent carcinoma revealed presence of EGF-R not only in the malignant lesions but also in the hyperplastic parts. These observations suggest that surgical treatment should be considered for multinodular AG patients. In addition, near-total lobectomy of the diseased side might be recommended as an operative procedure because of the prevention of postoperative recurrence and complications.