Surgical treatment of substernal goiters.

Fifty-one patients (4.6%) underwent resection of a substernal goiter in a fifteen-year period during the course of 1103 thyroidectomies. Forty-eight (94.2%) goiters were benign and three (5.8%) malignant. Mean age was 55 years. Female:male ratio was 2:1. Four patients (7.8%) had undergone prior thyroid surgery. Most had long-standing goiters (mean duration: 15 years). The most common symptoms included airway compression (56.8%), hoarseness...