I

In recent years, significant advancements have been made in the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid diseases. Previously, manual thyroid examinations have been replaced by ultrasound examinations, which can even detect very small nodules. Surgical biopsies have been supplanted by fine-needle aspirations performed under ultrasound guidance. With the widespread use of ultrasound and fine-needle biopsies, both benign thyroid nodules and cancers are being detected much more frequently than before, and thyroid cancers are being caught at much earlier stages.

In parallel with these innovations in the diagnosis of thyroid diseases, non-surgical treatments guided by ultrasound or angiography have also been developed over the past 15 years. These treatments have made it possible to destroy thyroid nodules using needles placed through the skin under local anesthesia or to reduce large goiter masses through angiography.