Follicular-cell derived thyroid cancer in children

Thyroid carcinoma is a rare disease in children, and is mostly of the papillary histological type. It is often extended at presentation with frequent lymph node metastases. Treatment includes surgery (total thyroidectomy and lymph node dissection) and radioiodine therapy in case of extensive disease. Life long thyroxine treatment is given to all patients and when carefully controled is devoided of adverse effects. Long term prognosis is favorable, but a few deaths have been reported some decades after initial treatment. Adverse prognostic indicators are younger age at discovery and presence of distant metastases.