Introduction:

Thyroid cancer is the second neoplasm with higher incidence in Mexican women. Its low mortality indicates that it could be treated with hemithyroidectomy without sacrificing cure, our objective was to find a tumor size associated with a risk of local relapse to recommend this procedure

Material and methods:

We studied a retrospective cohort of 278 cases, and selected 91 patients for a matched pair analysis. There were 14 cases treated with hemithyroidectomy alone and they were compared with 77 controls treated with total thyroidectomy and previously paired for the main prognostic factors. The relationship between tumor size and extrathyroid extension was studied. Also the tumor size and the extension of the surgery with relapse

Results:

Tumor size greater than 2 cm was associated with a RR 5.5 of presenting extrathyroidal macroscópica extension, 19% of patients had second malignancies

Conclusions:

There is a relationship between extrathyroidal extension and tumor size. Patients with tumor size less than 2 cm and treated with hemithyroidectomy alone were not distinct in relapse rate when compared with those treated with total thyroidectomy. Therefore, hemithyroidectomy can be appropriate for selected patients with tumors smaller than 2 cm.