Thyroid Cancer Support

Posts Tagged ‘follicular’

Thyroid cancer is not a common disease, can occur to anyone and even though it requires an adequate treatment, unlike other types of cancer thr thyroid one can be cured most of the times. Although, thyroid cancers are more common in females, males tend to have a greater risk than females for cancer occurring.

Moreover, thyroid cancer includes many types of cancers, the most common types are papillary, follicular or mixed papillary and follicular forms and on the other hand, the less common types that affect the thyroid are medullary cancer, anaplastic cancer and lymphoma. In addition to this, unlike other types of thyroid cancer, medullary thyroid cancer is a severe form which in many cases may involve other parts of the body, such as endocrine glands, pituitary, adrenal, pancreas and parathyroid glands, an involvement which is known as Multiple endocrine neoplastia syndrome. It is important to note that even though this thype of cancer is quite unusual to be transmitetted, patients with medullary cancer should ensure that family memebers will make some tests in order to be sure that they aren not in danger.

Furthermore, specialists have discovered that thyroid cancer can occur due to certain factors. For example, x-ray treatments that used to be very popular a few years ago and were used to treat certain affections such as acne, blood vessel tumors of the face, enlarged thymus, sore throat. chronic coughs and even excess facial hair are no longer performed due to their negative effect for the thyroid gland which tends to be very sensitive at radiations. Moreover, an important contributing factor for the occurence of thyroid cancer is the prolonged exposure to head and neck irradiation in childhood and even adulthood.

Treatments for thyroid cancers are various and depend on the stage and type of thyroid cancer of the patient. For instance a first step is the confirmation of a thyroid nodule is present and involves the usage of scanning and ultrasound procedures. Moreover a better procedure for diagnose the patient which is suspected of thyroid cancer is a fine needle aspiration biopsy. Even though many surgeons consider that it is enough to remove just the affected part of the thyroidgland, it has been considered that a whole removal of the gland may help more and also will prevent a possible recurrence of the cancer. Although a Thyroidectomy is an efficient preocedure, the risks that involves can be very severe (deficiency in calcium by the inadvertent removal of nearby parathyroid glands and in some cases the damaging of the vocal cord). Much more when the cancer tends to spread from the thyroid glands to lymph nodes nearby the neck, a surgery called neck dissection is necessary in order to remove the tumor.

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Thyroid cancer is one of the less common types of cancer to be diagnosed and, for most people who contact it, with treatment, the prospects of recovery are very good.

Many people discovering a lump in their thyroid region perhaps automatically fear that this might indicate cancer but most estimates reckon that only about 5% of all thyroid lumps are actually cancerous. Women are more at risk of thyroid cancer than men, with the highest chance of having the problem being between the ages of 30 and 55, before it decreases somewhat. The risk for men increases with age, until the age of about 75.

The four different types of thyroid cancer are papillary thyroid cancer, follicular thyroid cancer and the less common medullary and anaplastic tumours. Papillary cancer, the most common type, is also the one most likely to appear in people in the younger age bracket. Follicular cancer is more probable in older people. Medullary cancer can sometimes be genetically inherited so, if there is a family history of this problem, regular check ups and blood tests are a good idea. Anaplastic tumours, the rarest type of thyroid cancer, are more common in elderly patients and can develop more quickly than other types, whilst also sometimes being difficult to treat. In addition, it is possible that a person could develop a lymphoma of the thyroid, but this is even more uncommon.

There is no indication whatsoever that having an overactive or underactive thyroid can increase the risks of thyroid cancer. However, it has been estimated that approximately 1 in 5 cases of thyroid cancer do actually occur in people who, in the past, have had nodules, goitres or inflammation of the thyroid. This is particularly evident amongst people who have had nodules at a younger age.

Other possible people at more risk of thyroid cancer appear to be those who have had radiotherapy in the neck; been exposed to radiation in their work; suffer from the bowel disorder known as Familial Adenomatous Polyposis; have low iodine levels; have recently had babies or are going through the menopause.

Research studies, however, indicate that by far the largest contributory factor towards thyroid cancer appears to be an unhealthy diet. It appears that eating refined rather than unrefined carbohydrates leads to a higher risk of the problem developing. Eating good amounts of vegetables, containing Vitamins C and E, and avoiding too much butter, cheese and red meat seems to be a way of trying to avoid thyroid cancer.

Dependent upon the type of cancer you have, your age, fitness levels and general health and how far your cancer has developed, your specialist doctor will decide upon the requisite treatment for you. Predominantly, surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and occasionally hormone therapy are used.

Surgery can involve either a partial or total thyroidectomy – removal of the thyroid gland. Mostly, doctors prefer the total thyroidectomy as it stops the cancer from possibly returning, although it means the patient
will require thyroid hormone tablets afterwards.

The radiotherapy used in thyroid cancer treatment is a targeted radiotherapy employing a radioactive form of iodine which can specifically target and destroy the cancer cells. There are generally very few side effects to this treatment. Radiotherapy is sometimes used after surgery to help prevent the return of the cancer or to treat cancer that has returned despite previous treatment. Chemotherapy, much less commonly used, is employed to treat advanced or returning cancers.

It needs to be re-emphasised, though, that not only is thyroid cancer quite rare but also, especially with early diagnosis and treatment, the fact is that many people are successfully and completely cured of it.