[en] In seventy patients with nodular thyroids and a history of radiation exposure, total thyroidectomy disclosed a 54 percent incidence of carcinoma; more than half of them had cervical node metastases; four had distant metastases. Fourteen patients required radical neck dissection. The carcinoma was multicentric (both lobes) in 45 percent. In four patients the carcinoma was found in the lobe contralateral to the one containing the palpable nodule. These findings support the advocates of total thyroidectomy for patients with a nodular thyroid and a history of radiation exposure, provided this operation can be performed with a low incidence of recurrent nerve palsy and hypoparathyroidism