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Thyroid Cancer
Overview of Thyroid Cancer
Thyroid cancer is one of the rarest forms of cancer. Research shows that only approximately one in every 100 newly diagnosed cancer cases involves the thyroid gland which means that many family doctors will never have come across a case in their professional experience.
There are three main types of thyroid cancer, each arising from a different cell type in the gland:
- Papillary thyroid cancer accounts for around 7 in every 10 cases and tends to spread to the nearby lymph nodes.
- Follicular thyroid cancer is much less common and often spreads to the lungs and bones in preference to other body areas.
- Medullary thyroid cancer is extremely rare and is more often than not associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia which is an inherited condition.
Risk Factors of Thyroid Cancer
The cause of thyroid cancer remains a mystery however evidence suggests that previous exposure of the neck area to radiation increases the risk of development. This means that people who have undergone radiation treatment for throat cancer in the past will be more prone to this new form of cancer. As with many other forms of cancer, thyroid cancer can affect anybody at any age however it generally occurs in people who are over the age of 40 and is twice as likely to affect women as men.
Signs and Symptoms of Thyroid Cancer
The symptoms of thyroid cancer depend on the type of tumour that is present however common symptoms include:
- A painless, hard lump in the neck area.
- Difficulty swallowing.
- Hoarseness.
Often these thyroid cancer symptoms are ignored by the patient or attributed to a throat infection and so a number of cases have already to spread to other areas of the body by the time they are diagnosed. The first signs of papillary thyroid cancer may be a lump in the side of the neck due to the lymph glands becoming enlarged whereas the first signs of follicular cancer may be a chesty cough when the lungs are involved or alternatively pain in the bones.
Treatment for Thyroid Cancer
Thyroid cancer treatment usually involves the surgical removal of the entire thyroid gland. Further treatment then includes an oral dose of radioactive iodine which accumulates in the remaining thyroid tissue and destroys any cancer cells that may have survived. When this approach is used the patient will need to take thyroid hormone drugs for the rest of their life.
Radiation treatment for thyroid cancer very rarely occurs if the cancerous cells remain confined to the thyroid gland however it is often used as a treatment for metastasis of thyroid cancer i.e. when it has spread to other areas of the body.
If thyroid cancer is diagnosed and treated early, the survival rate after 5 years is as high as 95% and so people very rarely die from thyroid cancer when it is still in the early stages. In fact, the cure rate is amongst the highest for all types of cancer.
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