Carcinoma of the Thyroid

o^noma of the thyroid is uncommon. In the South-West Region it accounts for per 0'fy) per cent of all cancer, (excluding that of the skin). This compares with 0-4 this Cent of a total of some 447,000 deaths from cancer (excluding the skin) notified in l?0Q6?Un.try between 195I and 1955.1 In the Bristol Royal Infirmary since 1950, an j Patients with enlarged thyroids have been seen, and of these, 28 were malignant, -j, ^dence of 2-5 per cent. \Vestp Paper reviews 100 cases of carcinoma of the thyroid occurring in the Southit\ tjj 8^on ?f England. Half of these patients attended the Bristol Royal Infirmary risM ^rSt ^nstance> the others were referred to the radiotherapy department at the this s? Peneral Hospital, having first been treated at other hospitals in the region. In ^4>th riCS .t'lere are female and 20 male patients, a ratio of 4 to 1. Up to the age of Sijiaj6 rat'?'s 3*3 females to one male, whilst over 64, there were 31 females and only l itial S" PrePon^erance females is peculiar, as the usual ratio is 2 females to ^Udej.6', ^is anomaly is partly explained by the fact that' only 5 of our patients were Hool 5e 4?* a recent report by Alhadeff et al.2 from the Post-Graduate '^His at ^ammersmith, one quarter of their patients were under 40 years of age, and jL a?e group the sex incidence was equal. as 2 y 4? per cent of cases occurred in the 55-64 age group, the youngest patient 5> and the oldest 88 (Table 1).