Thyroid cancer
Thyroid cancer is cancer in the thyroid gland.
Types
There are four types of thyroid cancer:[1]
| Type of Thyroid Cancer: | This Type Makes Up... | Does it Grow Slowly or Quickly? | Can it Metastasize (Spread)? | How Do People Do with Treatment? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Papillary | 70% of all thyroid cancers | Slowly | Yes, but not quickly | People do well with treatment; patients under 45 rarely die from papillary thyroid cancer |
| Follicular | 10-15% of all thyroid cancers | Slowly | Yes, through the bloodstream and into other organs, like the lungs | People do well with treatment; patients under 45 rarely die from follicular thyroid cancer |
| Medullary | 4% of all thyroid cancers | Usually slowly | Yes, early on | People do well if the cancer is only in the thyroid gland, but not as well if it has spread to other body parts |
| Anaplastic | 2% of all thyroid cancers | Quickest of all thyroid cancers | Yes, very quickly | Treatments often do not help this kind of thyroid cancer |
How is Thyroid Cancer Diagnosed?
Thyroid cancer can be diagnosed in a few different ways:[1]
Basic Tests:
- During a physical exam, a doctor can check for lumps or swelling in the neck; a larger-than-normal thyroid (goiter); and how the patient is feeling in general.
- Blood tests can check for levels of hormones released by other organs in the body.
Special Tests:
- Special scans, like CT scans, PET scans, MRIs, and radioiodine scans. These tests can find out where the thyroid cancer is, how big it is, and how far it has spread.
- Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy: A thin needle, guided by an ultrasound, is put through the skin and into the thyroid. A biopsy is done: a sample of cells is taken out (aspirated) and checked for cancer.
- Ultrasound: If a person has a lump on their thyroid, an ultrasound can measure how big it is.
- Surgical biopsy: A surgeon can take out one side of the thyroid, or the whole thyroid, so it can be tested for cancer. (Sometimes, taking out the whole thyroid is also a treatment for thyroid cancer.)
- Thyroid scan: The patient takes a pill of radioactive iodine. (It is radioactive so the iodine can be seen on the test. The thyroid is supposed to be able to make iodine into thyroid hormones, so if the thyroid cannot do this because of cancer, the test will show it.) A special camera is used to get an image of the thyroid on a computer screen. This test is not used very often, since it is only useful in certain cases.
Notable cases
- 2000: 28-year-old Colombian-American actress and model Sofía Vergara was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. She had her thyroid removed, underwent radioiodine therapy, and made a full recovery.[2][3]
- 2012: 27-year-old Russian singer and actress, former part of world-wide famous duo t.A.T.u, Yuliya Volkova was diagnosed with stage I papillary thyroid cancer. She developed some thyroid problems after giving birth to her son Samir in 2007 and she do ultrasounds few times a year ever since to prevent serious health problems and eventually was diagnosed with early stage of cancer when her son was 4. She underwent surgery to the tumor, her thyroid was removed too. She later underwent hormonies treatment. Doctors damaged her voice nerve during the surgery and she lost her voice. She underwent multiple courses of treatments in Russia, Israel and Germany to get her voice back during the next year. She later was able to got her voice back in Korea. As of early April 2016 she was cancer-free.
- 2013: Famous movie critic Roger Ebert died after suffering from the disease for nearly eight years. He had part of his lower jaw removed to prevent the cancer spread. However, in late 2012, the cancer spread to parts of his hip and bone.
References
- "Thyroid Cancer". Cleveland Clinic Online, www.my.clevelandclinic.org. Cleveland Clinic. August 20, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
- Graham Kizer, Jennifer (April 21, 2008). "Sofia Vergara Beats Thyroid Cancer". health.com. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
- O'Connor, Anahad (May 3, 2013). "The Workout: Sofia Vergara Hates to Exercise". New York Times. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
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