高橋 昭三, 横沢 保, 宮川 信, 飯田 太

Shouzou TAKAHASHI, Tamotsu YOKOZAWA, Makoto MIYAKAWA, Futoshi IIDA

信州大学医学部第二外科

Second Department of Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine

キーワード : Ultrasonoeraphy, Thyroid microcarcinoma, Thyroid cancer, Microcarcinoma

A case of thyroid microcarcinoma, 5 mm in diameter, diagnosed by ultrasonography was reported.
The patient, 16-year old female, visited our clinic because of anterior neck's tumor which was pointed out by other doctor.
Physical examination revealed a round, firm nodule at the isthmus. We couldn't diagnose this nodule as carcinoma by palpation, scintigraphy, aspiration cytology. The ultrasonographic findings of the nodule were summarized to be low-level echoes, non-uniform of the internal structure, variable forms and adhesion to anterior cervical muscles. So, the nodule was diagnosed as carcinoma.
It is difficult to diagnose thyroid microcarcinoma preoperativery. From 1983 to 1985, 37 patients had pathological examination of thyroid microcarcinoma, of which 27 patients (78%), using 7.5 MHz high-resolution reai-time ultrasonography, were diagnosed as carcinoma.