Active surveillance of low-risk papillary thyroid microcarcinoma

Active surveillance of low-risk papillary thyroid microcarcinoma is an observational management approach increasingly used as an alternative to immediate surgery for small, low-risk papillary thyroid cancers that show no sign of spreading. Patients on active surveillance are monitored with periodic ultrasound examinations and thyroid function tests and are moved to surgery only if the disease shows signs of progressing; the approach has grown in use as detection of small thyroid cancers has risen over recent decades without a matching rise in deaths from the disease.