Includes bibliographical references and index.

Notes on positioning the patient -- Basic surgical anatomy -- Incisions; thyroid exposure -- Capsular dissection -- Thyroid hilus : suspensory ligament of Berry ; inferior (recurrent) laryngeal nerve ; parathyroids ; posterior thyroid process (tubercle of Zuckerkandl) -- Further case records with demonstrations of the technique of capsular dissection -- Basic remarks -- Proliferation, clonality, and autonomy of thyroid lesions -- Molecular genetic diagnosis. Gene profiling -- Follicular neoplasia -- Thyroid nodules in surgical practice. Strategy of adequate excision -- Case records : hyperplastic and neoplastic nodules ; functional autonomy ; follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) -- Embryological thyroid development and developmental anomalies : clinical aspects -- Total thyroidectomy for benign nodular goiter -- Long-standing solitary nodule -- Further clinical considerations -- Nodules in graves disease -- Nodules in chronic autoimmune thyroiditis (Hashimoto thyroiditis, Hashimoto disease, lymphocytic thyroiditis) -- Papillary thyroid carcinoma -- Anaplastic (undifferentiated) thyroid carcinoma -- Medullary thyroid carcinoma (C-cell carcinoma) -- Concluding remarks.