Endocrinology in Mainz: Information about thyroid nodules
Endocrinology specialist recommends ultrasound diagnostics to avoid surgery
MAINZ – Thyroid nodules are a relatively common finding during routine examinations. Prof Dr Dr h. c. Christian Wüster is a specialist in endocrinology in Mainz and advises patients with thyroid nodules to have the cause clarified, even if they do not cause any symptoms. In most cases, these are benign tissue changes. Nevertheless, according to the German Society of Endocrinology (DGE), thyroid surgery is still being performed too frequently in such cases, despite a downward trend. The frequency of operations in Germany is around twice as high as in other European countries. ‘Experienced endocrinologists can use modern ultrasound equipment and diagnostic procedures to safely and gently examine nodules on the thyroid gland and assess whether or not surgery is appropriate,’ explains Prof. Christian Wüster, MD, who heads the Hormone & Metabolism Centre Prof. Wüster MVZ GmbH Mainz in Mainz.
Specialist in endocrinology in Mainz: Thyroid nodules are very rarely malignant
Medical statistics show that around 50 to 70 per cent of people in Germany have nodules in their thyroid gland. ‘The diagnosis is made on the one hand via a manual palpation examination. On the other hand, the nodules are also discovered by chance using diagnostic imaging procedures.
This is because ultrasound diagnostics are becoming increasingly widespread. Accidental diagnoses are contributing to the increasing frequency of thyroid nodules being diagnosed, even though there are no symptoms or functional disorders,’ explains the endocrinologist from Mainz. Even though thyroid carcinoma is a rather rare tumour disease, affecting around five in 100,000 people, a malignant change in the thyroid gland should be ruled out. In individual cases, the treating physician is faced with the challenge of harmonising the low probability of a malignant disease with the available examination results.
Avoiding surgery with modern examination procedures in endocrinology
In countries such as South Korea, there is a screening programme for thyroid cancer. According to the DGE, this programme shows how overdiagnosis can have an impact. The number of operations for thyroid cancer has risen by 1,500 per cent because operations were also performed for small carcinomas. As the number of operations increased, so did the number of complications such as damage to the vocal cord nerves. However, there was no effect on mortality as a result of screening. Prof Dr Dr h. c. Wüster is convinced that endocrinology specialists can help to avoid unnecessary operations by using modern procedures such as ultrasound elastography to measure tissue elasticity. Benign thyroid nodules can also be treated with medication without surgery if necessary.
