Does the incidence of thyroid cancer increase in Halland?

Master Thesis, Programme in Medicine TITLE: Does the incidence of thyroid cancer increase in Halland ? AUTHOR: Tanya Malmberg, 2013 Department of surgery, Varberg hospital, Sweden Background The incidence of thyroid cancer has increased in many countries in the world and it is not clear whether it is due to overdiagnosis or a true epidemiologic increase. It is possible that the use of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration reveals a higher incidence of thyroid cancer. In the region of Halland both palpation-guided and ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspirations are equally performed. Aim The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of thyroid cancer in Halland and the outcome of the different methods of achieving material for cytological analysis. Methods Medical records of patients (n= 87) diagnosed with thyroid cancer identified in local records between 2000 and 2013 in northern and southern Halland were reviewed. Results The number of diagnosed thyroid cancers has increased in Halland from 2009. The number of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspirations and diagnosed T1-tumors also increased from the same time. T1-tumor was the most usual diagnosed tumor in the hospital mostly performing ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspirations (35 % of tumors) whereas it was the most unusual tumor in the hospital that used palpation-guided fine-needle aspirations (18 %). Although not significant, almost twice as many T1-tumors were diagnosed with ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspirations as with palpation-guided. Conclusions The number of cases of thyroid cancer seems to increase in Halland