Report and commentary on a series of cases of goitre: written for the Pattison Prize in Clinical Surgery, 1932

(1) That the main factors in determining the type of goitre and the general clinical condition are: - (a) stimuli, (b) state of thyroid gland, (c) state of body tissues. (2) That the operation on a simple colloid goitre is a relatively safe procedure but is only justifiable where pressure symptoms have arisen or for aesthetic reasons. (3) That for toxic adenomatous goitre, foetal adenoma, and early Graves' disease,surgical treatment can be adequate and curative. (4) That for malignant disease, removal of the primary growth by total thyroidectomy and treatment of the bone metastases by radium, is the method of choice. (5) That B.M.R. estimations are a yard -stick with which to estimate the intensity of the disease at any moment. (6) That Goetsch's test is of value in the diagnosis of borderline cases of hyperthyroidism. (7) That the safety of the operation is dependent largely on adequate preoperative treatment and is inversely proportional to the B.M.R. on the day of operation (other things being equal). (8) That the post-operative treatment, particularly for the first few days, is an important adjunct to the operation itself