Whether or not the thyroid gland has to be removed for thyroid nodule surgery depends on whether the nodule is benign or malignant; if the benign nodule essentially occupies the gland or is malignant, the thyroid gland must be removed. In many cases, it is also common to find that some preoperatively diagnosed benign nodules are malignant when sent for rapid intraoperative pathologic examination, and then removal of the gland is also done. For surgery on benign nodules, most of the time, the surgery is still performed by removing the nodule. This is because random removal of the thyroid gland can affect the patient’s quality of life or create an unnecessary burden of lifelong medication. Even if a benign nodule recurs, it can still be treated with surgery again without affecting the patient’s survival.