EXPERIENCIA DE 10 ANOS EN EL DEPARTAMENTO DEL CAUCA, COLOMBIA, PERIODO 2004- 2013. INTRODUCCION: El cancer tiroideo es el cancer endocrino mas comun de todos los diagnosticados en los Estados Unidos. El incremento en su frecuencia se debe al aumento en la incidencia del tipo papilar; su principal forma de presentacion es en tumores pequenos. METODOLOGIA: Se realizo una busqueda manual exhaustiva de los registros de patologia de individuos que fueron sometidos a tiroidectomia en dos centros de referencia en Popayan-Cauca, entre los anos 2004 y 2013. Se realizo un analisis exploratorio para calcular las medidas de ocurrencia en enfermedad tumoral y no-tumoral. RESULTADOS: Se documentaron 463 tiroidectomias; 205 fueron por cancer de tiroides y 258 fueron por patologia distinta al cancer de tiroides; 195 correspondieron a las diferentes variedades de carcinoma diferenciado (95,121%); 168 fueron para el tipo papilar clasico y sus variedades (81,95%); 22 fueron para carcinoma folicular (10,73%); 3 para carcinoma de celulas de Hurthle (1,46%); 2 se rotularon como mixtos (0,975%); 6 (2,92%) correspondieron a carcinoma pobremente diferenciado; 2 correspondieron a carcinoma medular (0,975%) y 2 fueron clasificados como anaplasicos (0,975%). CONCLUSIONES: El incremento en el numero de cirugias en patologia tiroidea tumoral y no-tumoral puede explicarse por un aumento real en la frecuencia –por un factor medioambiental explicito– (ingesta excesiva de sal yodada) y por un “sobrediagnostico” originado por un mayor acceso a estudios de imagenes y una mayor frecuencia de ACAF. El incremento en los procedimientos en patologia no-tumoral puede deberse principalmente a conductas, decisiones o creencias por parte del cirujano y del paciente. THYROID CANCER AND THYROIDECTOMY INDICATIONS A 10-YEAR EXPERIENCE IN CAUCA DEPARTMENT, COLOMBIA, DURING YEARS 2004-2013 ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine cancer diagnosed in the United States. The increase in frequency is due to greater incidence of the papillary type, when seen as a small tumor. METHODOLOGY: We performed a comprehensive manual search of pathology records of individuals who underwent thyroidectomy at two reference centers in the city of Popayan, Cauca, between years 2004 and 2013. An exploratory analysis calculated the number of times thyroidectomy was done for tumor and for non-tumor disease. RESULTS: We documented 463 thyroidectomies; 205 were for thyroid cancer and 258 were for other conditions; 195 cases (95.121%) were classified as differentiated thyroid carcinoma; of these, 168 were classical papillary carcinoma and subtypes (81.95%); 22 were follicular carcinomas (10.73%); 3, Hurthle-cell carcinomas (1.46%); 2 were labeled as mixed (0.975%); 6 (2.92%) were poorly differentiated carcinomas, 2, medullary carcinomas (0.975%) and 2 were classified as anaplastic (0.975%). CONCLUSIONS: The increased number of surgeries in thyroid (tumor and non-tumor) disease can be explained by an actual increase in frequency-by a environmental explicit-factor (excessive intake of iodized salt) and moreover, can be explained by a “over-diagnosis” caused by increased access to imaging studies and a a larger number of fine-needle aspiration citologies (ACAF). The increase in thyroidectomies for non-tumoral pathology may be primarily due to a physician tendency to a surgical approach, decisions and beliefs by both surgeons and patients.