Thyroid nodules are the most common disease of the thyroid gland, of which 5.0% to 15.0% may eventually evolve into malignant tumors. The incidence of thyroid cancer has shown a significant increase in recent years. In the United States, the incidence of differentiated thyroid cancer has been the fastest growing among all malignant tumors since 2004, and the incidence of thyroid cancer has risen to the 5th place among female malignant tumors in the United States. The incidence rate of thyroid cancer in Beijing has increased from 3.2/100,000 in 2003 to 15.7/100,000 in 2012, with the incidence rate of 7.0/100,000 in men and 24.6/100,000 in women, and the ranking of thyroid cancer in female malignancies has increased from 14th in 2003 to 4th. Pathologically, the composition ratio of papillary thyroid cancer increased from 51.6% in 1995 to 87.6% in 2010, and the composition ratio of follicular carcinoma decreased from 5.2% to 1.7%. Our statistical results show that the incidence rate of thyroid malignant tumors as well as the morbidity and mortality rate are significantly higher in urban than in rural areas, and the incidence rate of women is significantly higher than that of men. In 2010, for example, the national incidence rate of thyroid cancer was 4.1/100,000, with a male to female ratio of 1.0:3.2, and the incidence rate in urban areas was 1.9 times higher than that in rural areas. Therefore, more and more scholars are concerned about the rational and effective diagnosis and treatment of thyroid nodules. The diagnosis and treatment process of thyroid nodules in China usually involves patients coming to the outpatient clinic with a neck mass or an ultrasound examination suggesting a thyroid nodule during physical examination. Patients with surgical indications will be admitted to hospital for surgery. The surgical procedure for benign thyroid nodules is mainly based on complete removal of the lesion, with maximum preservation of thyroid function being the most important, and total thyroidectomy is not common. For malignant thyroid nodules, before 2012, there was no Chinese version of surgical guidelines to follow, some doctors would refer to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), American Thyroid Association (ATA) or European guidelines or even Japanese guidelines for thyroid cancer, which directly led to the confusion of surgical procedures for thyroid cancer, such as enucleation of thyroid tumor, partial thyroidectomy, subtotal thyroidectomy, subtotal thyroidectomy and total thyroidectomy, etc. In our daily work, we often see patients who have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and need to undergo secondary surgery within a short period of time. Due to the inappropriate choice of the previous surgery, patients undergo secondary surgery within a short period of time, which can lead to a significantly higher incidence of surgery-related complications, especially laryngeal recurrent nerve injury and parathyroid gland injury. Thus, the initial treatment of thyroid cancer is extremely important. The 5-year survival rate of thyroid cancer with standardized treatment is over 90%, and for every 15% decrease in recurrence rate, the death rate decreases by 5%. Some doctors still believe that surgery has little effect on the outcome of thyroid cancer because of its relatively low mortality rate. These misconceptions will lead to the increase of residual rate and recurrence rate of tumor, significantly higher rate of re-operation, multiplying the risk of complications, and even loss of surgery due to loss of differentiation of thyroid cancer. In order to standardize the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid nodules in China, especially the treatment of thyroid cancer, the Chinese version of the Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Thyroid Nodules and Differentiated Thyroid Cancer was formulated in 2012 by the Endocrinology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, the Endocrine Surgery Group of the Chinese Medical Association and the Head and Neck Cancer Committee of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association with reference to the international guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer and the actual situation in China. The Chinese version of the Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Thyroid Nodules and Differentiated Thyroid Cancer (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines) was formulated by the Chinese Anti-Cancer Society Head and Neck Cancer Committee with reference to the international guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer and the actual situation in China. For the screening of benign and malignant thyroid nodules, the Guidelines clearly suggest that ultrasound examination can assist in identifying benign and malignant thyroid nodules, in addition to CT and MRI examinations. If the nodule is considered benign on ultrasound, a review in 3 to 6 months is recommended. The following conditions can be met for benign thyroid nodules: (1) local pressure symptoms associated with the nodule; (2) combined with hyperthyroidism, medical treatment is ineffective; (3) the tumor is located in the posterior sternum or mediastinum; (4) the nodule grows progressively and is clinically considered to have malignant tendency or combined with high risk factors for thyroid cancer; (5) the patient strongly requests for surgery because of the appearance or excessive ideological concerns affecting normal life. (5) The patient strongly requests surgery because of appearance or ideological concerns that affect normal life. If the ultrasound image shows solid hypoechoic nodules with irregular borders, longitudinal to transverse diameter ratio >1, and some nodules have sand-like calcification foci or punctate calcification foci, and the examination suggests abnormal blood flow signal, the possibility of malignancy is higher, and fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) is recommended, because it is the most sensitive and specific method. In order to increase the positive rate, BRAF gene test can be added in hospitals. The most common type of thyroid cancer is differentiated thyroid cancer. After surgery, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) suppression therapy should be given promptly.