Objective To investigate the relationship between nodular goiter and thyroid cancer and the causes of postoperative recurrence in patients with nodular goiter(NG) undergoing operative treatment. Methods The clinical date of 199 cases of NG were retrospectively analysed. Results Pathological examination revealed that 7 cases were accompanied by thyroid cancer including 2 micro-cancer, all the 7 cases were papillary carcinomas. The postoperative recurrent rate of NG was 11.5%(18 cases).Thyroid nodule reccurrence rate in patients received - operative thyroxin replacement therapy was significantly lower than that in patients not received thyroxin therapy( P