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Significant advances have been made in thyroid can-cer research in recent years, therefore relevant clinical guidelines need to be updated. The current Polish guidelines "Diagnostics and Treatment of Thyroid Carcinoma" have been formulated at the "Thyroid Cancer and Other Malignancies of Endocrine Glands" conference held in Wisla in November 2015 [1].

Revised Guidelines of Polish National Societies Prepared on the initiative of the Polish Group for Endocrine Tumours approved in their final version between November 16th and 28th, 2015 by the Scientific Committee of the V Conference "Thyroid Cancer and other malignancies of endocrine glands" organised between November 14th and 17th, 2015 in Wisla, Poland; called by the following Societies: Polish Endocrine Society, Polish Society of Oncology, Polish Thyroid Association, Polish Society of Pathologists, Society of Polish Surgeons, Polish Society of Surgical Oncology, Polish Society of Clinical Oncology, Polish Society of Radiation Oncology, Polish Society of Nuclear Medicine, Polish Society of Paediatric Endocrinology, Polish Society of Paediatric Surgeons, Polish Society of Ultrasonography Gliwice-Wisla, 2015 DECLARATION: These recommendations are created by the group of delegates of the National Societies, which declare their willingness to participate in the preparation of the revised version of the Polish Guidelines. The members of the Working Group have been chosen from the specialists involved in medical care of patients with thyroid carcinoma. Directly before the preparation of the Polish national recommendations the American Thyroid Association (ATA) published its own guidelines together with a wide comment fulfilling evidence-based medicine (EBM) criteria. ATA Guidelines are consistent with National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Recommendation. According to the members of the Working Group, it is necessary to adapt them to both the specific Polish epidemiological situation as well as to the rules referring to the Polish health system. Therefore, the Polish recommendations constitute a consensus of the experts' group, based on ATA information. The experts analysed previous Polish Guidelines, published in 2010, and other available data, and after discussion summed up the results in the form of these guidelines. It should be added that Part II, which constitutes a pathological part, has been available at the website of the Polish Society of Pathologists for acceptance of the members of the Society, and no essential comments have been proposed. The Members of the Group decided that a subgroup elected from among them would update the Guidelines, according to EBM rules, every year. The Revised Guidelines should help physicians to make reasonable choices in their daily practice; however, the final decision concerning an individual patient should be made by the caring physician responsible for treatment, or optimally by a therapeutic tumour board together with the patient, and should take into consideration the patient's health condition. It should be emphasised that the recommendations may not constitute a strict standard of clinical management imposed on medical staff. The data from clinical trials concerning numerous clinical situations are scarce. In such moments the opinion of the management may differ from the recommendations after considering possible benefits and disadvantages for the patient.

Significant advances have been made in thyroid can-cer research in recent years, therefore relevant clinical guidelines need to be updated. The current Polish guidelines "Diagnostics and Treatment of Thyroid Carcinoma" have been formulated at the "Thyroid Cancer and Other Malignancies of Endocrine Glands" conference held in Wisła in November 2015 [1].

At the end of 19th century a few fundamental discoveries changed diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities in medicine and, particularly, in oncology: in 1895 Wilhelm Roentgen from Germany discovered X-rays, in 1886 Henry Becquerel described the phenomenon of radioactivity of uranium, and in 1898 Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium and polonium. In 1903 the Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded jointly to Henry Becquerel, and Marie and Pierre Curie for the discovery of radioactivity. Maria SklodowskaCurie received the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for her discovery of radium and polonium (Fig. 1). The discovery of X-rays by Roentgen was a turning point in diagnostics. It enabled precise evaluation of internal organs hitherto completely inaccessible for investigation. First, it became possible to visualize the bones (one of the first X-rays in history was an X-ray of the hand of Roentgen’s wife; Fig. 2); then, after introduction of various contrast media (barium meal, iodine preparations) other organs could also be visualized: the alimentary tract, biliary routes, and blood vessels. Even now radiology is an essential tool in modern diagnosis and, sometimes, in the treatment of many diseases. Modern techniques are, of course, more precise and sophisticated. Computer analysis of X-ray images has enabled the introduction of computer tomography (CT) scans, which give a very precise view of the internal organs inaccessible with classical methods. It is interesting to know that to obtain a simple X-ray in the 1890s required more than 30 minutes of exposure. Despite further sophistication of the equipment, for example helix CT scan and NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance), the discovery of X-rays remains the basis of the technique. Natural radioactivity, discovered by Becquerel and Marie and Pierre Curie at the same time, led to new therapeutic and diagnostic methods in medicine. First clinical applications of radioactive substances were undertaken very soon after. As early as 1899 Tage Sjoergren from Sweden reported the first case of a malignant tumor of the skin cured by use of radioactive source application. Kassabian’s Medical Manual issued in 1907 in Philadelphia gives a list of tumors treated by radiotherapy. Many of these are still treated with this method. Nowadays the indications are more precise and the equipment is much more sophisticated. One should also note that at that time radiotherapy was also recommended in cases completely unjustified according to our present knowledge, e.g. varicose veins, epilepsy, acne, and others. However, even at the time doctors observed harmful side effects of radiotherapy, although first reports were rather anecdotal: in July 1896 newspapers described the case of someone who wanted to investigate, on himself, effect of radioactivity on the skull and the brain—as result he lost all his hair. Discovery of radium and polonium caused rapid and, initially, completely uncontrolled use of radium in all fields of life and medicine. The absence of proper dosimetric methods and proper safety measures resulted in many complications very often fatal—Marie Sklodowska-Curie experienced this herself. Gaining experience in the side effects resulted in elaboration of the modern principles of radiotherapy. Today’s radiotherapy is an essential therapeutic method in oncology. During the first 50 years external beam radiation was based on the use of radium and X-rays. Now we use cobalt Published in the special issue Radioanalytics – Dedicated to Marie Sklodowska-Curie with Guest Editors Boguslaw Buszewski and Philippe Garrigues

Revised Guidelines of Polish National Societies Prepared on the initiative of the Polish Group for Endocrine Tumours approved in their final version between November 16th and 28th, 2015 by the Scientific Committee of the V Conference "Thyroid Cancer and other malignancies of endocrine glands" organised between November 14th and 17th, 2015 in Wisla, Poland; called by the following Societies: Polish Endocrine Society, Polish Society of Oncology, Polish Thyroid Association, Polish Society of Pathologists, Society of Polish Surgeons, Polish Society of Surgical Oncology, Polish Society of Clinical Oncology, Polish Society of Radiation Oncology, Polish Society of Nuclear Medicine, Polish Society of Paediatric Endocrinology, Polish Society of Paediatric Surgeons, Polish Society of Ultrasonography Gliwice-Wisła, 2015 DECLARATION: These recommendations are created by the group of delegates of the National Societies, which declare their willingness to participate in the preparation of the revised version of the Polish Guidelines. The members of the Working Group have been chosen from the specialists involved in medical care of patients with thyroid carcinoma. Directly before the preparation of the Polish national recommendations the American Thyroid Association (ATA) published its own guidelines together with a wide comment fulfilling evidence-based medicine (EBM) criteria. ATA Guidelines are consistent with National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Recommendation. According to the members of the Working Group, it is necessary to adapt them to both the specific Polish epidemiological situation as well as to the rules referring to the Polish health system. Therefore, the Polish recommendations constitute a consensus of the experts' group, based on ATA information. The experts analysed previous Polish Guidelines, published in 2010, and other available data, and after discussion summed up the results in the form of these guidelines. It should be added that Part II, which constitutes a pathological part, has been available at the website of the Polish Society of Pathologists for acceptance of the members of the Society, and no essential comments have been proposed. The Members of the Group decided that a subgroup elected from among them would update the Guidelines, according to EBM rules, every year. The Revised Guidelines should help physicians to make reasonable choices in their daily practice; however, the final decision concerning an individual patient should be made by the caring physician responsible for treatment, or optimally by a therapeutic tumour board together with the patient, and should take into consideration the patient's health condition. It should be emphasised that the recommendations may not constitute a strict standard of clinical management imposed on medical staff. The data from clinical trials concerning numerous clinical situations are scarce. In such moments the opinion of the management may differ from the recommendations after considering possible benefits and disadvantages for the patient.

In Poland, 1300 new cases of carcinoma of the esophagus are registered each year and it ranges from 1.1 in women to 4.8 in men per 100,000 population [1]. Most of the esophageal cancer patients admitted to the hospitals are in an advanced stage of the disease, and this is mainly responsible for the low operability/resecability rates and therefore poor long-term results of treatment (5-year survival is around 4%, the lowest of all gastro-intestinal cancers). Since no significant progress in early diagnosis has been observed, the attempts to improve the results concentrate on combining other modes of treatment (e.g., radio- and/or chemotherapy) before surgery (Fig. 1). Currently, surgery, whenever possible, remains the treatment of choice for carcinoma of the esophagus aimed at palliation or cure, whether or not it is associated with radiotherapy pre- and/or postoperatively. The place and the role of chemotherapy (combined or monotherapy) in the treatment program for esophageal carcinoma is still unproven, and is under evaluation for its potential benefits by ongoing prospective clinical trials.