Thyroid Cancer Support

Posts Tagged ‘Imaging’

There are tests and procedures that are used to determine whether one has thyroid cancer. They include:

A physical exam – You can feel your neck area for lumps and swelling.

Blood tests – TSH or thyroid-stimulating hormone levels can be measured. This reveals useful information in reference to a prognosis.

Needle biopsy – This is the means of removing cells from the thyroid gland and examining these cells using a microscope to find the cancer.

Imaging tests – These tests include ultrasound of the neck area to find swollen or enlarged lymph nodes.

Treatments And Drugs

Any treatment of thyroid cancer will depend on the type of cancer one has and the stage it is in. Your overall health and particular preferences will also affect the treatment received or recommended.

Surgery

There are operations used to treat cancer. Having an operation is one option usually taken by people already at risk. Such surgery could consist of:

Removing the thyroid (or a part of it). This procedure is referred to as thyroidectomy. Surgery for removing the entire thyroid gland is quite common for treating thyroid cancer. In many instances, the surgeon will leave small rims of thyroid tissue around parathyroid glands to reduce any risk of damage to parathyroid.

Removal of Lymph Nodes. When removing the thyroid gland, enlarged lymph nodes of the neck may be included in that removal. These can be tested for cancer cells.

This type of surgery is performed by making an incision into the skin on the base of the neck. There are risks of infection and bleeding associated with thyroid surgery. There can also be damage to the parathyroid glands during the course of surgery. This will cause low calcium levels in the body. Surgery of the thyroid gland also carries the risk of damage to nerves connected to the vocal cords. Damage to these nerves can cause paralysis of the vocal cords, hoarseness, or difficulty in breathing.

Hormone Therapy

Following thyroid cancer surgery, you may have to take thyroid hormone medication for life. These medications include levothyroxine such as in Levothroid, Synthroid, etc. There are two benefits to hormone therapy. One, it supplies missing hormones your thyroid would normally produce. The second benefit is that the hormone therapy suppresses the production of thyroid-stimulating hormone or TSH in the pituitary gland. Since high levels of TSH could possibly stimulate any remaining cancer cells to grow, the second benefit mentioned is very important.

There will be appointments set for you to get blood tests done to check your thyroid hormone levels every few months. Your doctor may require that this be continually done until your doctor finds the appropriate dosage for your specific case.

Radioactive Iodine

This form of thyroid cancer treatment uses large doses of a radioactive form of iodine. Radioactive iodine treatments are usually conducted after thyroidectomy. The purpose is to destroy any remaining healthy thyroid tissue and any microscopic areas of thyroid cancer that were missed during the surgery. Radioactive iodine treatment is also used when cancer recurs after treatment or if the cancer spreads to other parts of the body.

Radioactive iodine treatment can be administered in capsule form or liquid. This radioactive iodine is taken up by the thyroid cells or thyroid cancer cells. This ensures that there is a very low risk of harming the other cells in the body.

There are side effects to this treatment. These side effects include:

Nausea Drying of eyes Dryness in mouth Changes in sense of smell or taste Pain in neck or chest (where thyroid cancer may have spread)

In the first couple of days after treatment, the radioactive iodine leaves your body through the urine. You should take precautions and make sure that no one you come in contact with is exposed to this radiation. Pay particular attention to your proximity to pregnant women and children. Your physician may in fact provide specific guidance in this area.

External Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy can be conducted externally. It involves the use of a machine that points energy beams at targeted areas on the body. The patient lies on a table as still as possible while the machine moves around areas of the body. This treatment is only administered for a few minutes at a time. It can go on for several weeks with treatments administered daily.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a form of treatment that utilizes chemicals to destroy cancer cells. Chemotherapy is usually administered intravenously. The chemicals in the drug used in chemotherapy travel through the entire body, destroying growing cancer cells rapidly.

Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are studies conducted to find treatments for illnesses. They often involve trying out a newly discovered form of treatment or drug to test its effectiveness. It is widely used for new cancer treatments or new ways to use existing cancer treatments. The advantage of volunteering for a clinical trial is that it provides you with the opportunity to try the latest options in cancer treatment. However, clinical trials do not guarantee a cure. If you tried everything else, this may be an option for you. Your physician can tell you if you are eligible to enroll in a clinical trial. These trials usually have specific requirements that the patients needs to satisfy such as pre-existing health conditions. Discuss the risks and benefits of enrolling in a trial with your physician.

AN ARTICLE ON CANCER

What is cancer?

Cancer is the general term used for diseases in which normal cells separate without any control thus involving other tissues. Cancer cells can also spread to various parts of the body through the blood and lymph system.

Wild cell growth turns into cancer when it is exposed to carcinogens (Cancer- causing substance) genetic defects, or viruses. A tumour is formed when cancer cells multiply large masses of tissue. In some cases tumours limit themselves to one spot in the body; some can be removed by surgery. These kinds of tumours may cause little harm and is termed benign. Hostile tumours are called malignant. The study of cancer is called oncology.

Causes of Cancer

People get lung cancer most of the time from smoking tobacco which is said to have carcinogenic substance mainly known as tobacco smoke. Some carcinogens include certain chemicals, the Sun’s ultraviolet light, and radiation. Cancer can be formed by several viruses by altering the DNA of a host cell and converting the cell’s normal genes into cancer – causing genes, or oncogenes. Genetic  factors – such as chromosomal abnormalities or the inheritance of faulty genes from a parent of fore parent. This could most likely cause these persons who inherit these genes can end up having cancer. People that are Down syndrome, a chromosomal abnormality are susceptible to leukaemia.

How is cancer formed?

When a normal cell transforms into a cancer cell the genetic material (deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA) of a cell is changed, or mutated. Tumours don’t form over night they formed over decades or a certain amount of years, because of this it is very susceptible to formed into a cancer cell as time goes along. Most cancer occurs after the age of fifty, yet some are detected earlier in life, it varies.

Different types of cancer

It has been accessed that there are over more than 200 different types of cancers. They are named after the tissue or the organ they begin to form. The term Leukemia refers to cancer of white blood cells (can be also called leukocytes). Melanomas are cancers that begin in melanocytes (skin pigmentation.

Names of Cancers

Lung Cancer

Bladder Cancer

Colon and Rectal Cancer

Breast Cancer

Endometrial Cancer

Kidney (Renal Cell) Cancer

Non- Hodgkin Lymphoma Pancreatic Cancer

Skin Cancer

Non-melanoma thyroid Cancer

Prostrate Cancer

Leukemia

Bladder Cancer

Bone Cancer

Bile Duct Cancer

Brain Tumour

Appendix Cancer

Adrenocortical Carcinoma

Cervical cancer

Childhood cancer

Eye Cancer

Gall bladder Cancer

Kidney Cancer

Lip and oral Cancer

Liver Cancer

Mouth Cancer

Rectal Cancer

Salivary Cancer

Urethral Cancer

Vaginal Cancer

Vulvar Cancer

Treatments for cancer

Oncologists have been using Chemotherapy, or drug therapy to help cancer patience around the world. When cancer spreads to different parts of the body chemotherapy is used to help treat the cancer, before it gets worst. The immune system is weak when cancer spreads through the body. Therefore a treatment name immune enhancing drugs or antibodies are also used to help build back up the immune system and to destroy abnormal cells. There has been an anticancer drug that kills cancer cells while leaving the good ones alive. This drug was introduced in the spring of 2001. The drug, Gleevec has proven to work very strongly against chronic myelogenous leukaemia, leukaemia is one of the four main types of blood cancer.

How can u prevent cancer?

Cancer can be prevented by doing the following:

¬For all smokers the only way that you can avoid yourself from getting lung cancer is to stop smoking.

¬Try not to be in the sun for lengthy periods, too much exposure to the sun can cause cancer

¬Lessen your high- fat diets

¬Avoid alcohol as much as possible

¬Unsafe sex

¬Other Carcinogens could prevent more than 80% of all cancer cases.

¬Do yearly testing; this would detect it in the early stage if you are tested positive, early treatment can be taken.

The following are various tests than can be taken to see if you have cancer.

Skin Cancer: Skin examination this is done by the naked eye of the doctor. If any area may look suspicious then biopsy is done and under the microscope cancer cells are examined

 Prostate Cancer:

·       Digital Rectal Examination: Prostrate is examined by a doctor using his/her finger from the lower part from the rectum. When you reach fifty years it must be done at least once a year. If there was any sign before that you may have prostrate then do a test once every year even though you may be under forty

Breast Cancer:

·       Breast Self Examination: when you reach twenty years of age, this examination must be taken once every month.

·       Clinical Breast Examination: the breasts and regions under the arms should be examined also, between the ages of 20 and 40 years. Once every three years this examination should be carried out, and once every year after the age of forty.

·       Mammogram: Imaging of the breasts with X rays. It must be done once every year after 40 years of age.

An illustration of how a mammogram is done

Lung Cancer:

     Chest X-ray: It is imaging of organs and bones in chest with X-ray. Especially if you are a smoker you should do chest x –rays at least twice a year.

 Colorectal Cancer:

·       Fecal Occult Blood Test: Blood in stool which can be seen only under microscope is examined. It must be done once every year after 50 years of age.

Why cancer has and is becoming more prevalent

  Over the last generation there has been vast difference between the way we use to live and how we are now living. I can almost say that we live in a different world. Technology has been increased by a large percentage. Smelter plants, environmental chemical, polluted air, microwaves, computers, utensils and a lot of foods are said to be cancerous to us. Meats that are harmonized (e.g. chicken), plants, vegetables, fruits etc. these are all things that should make us healthy, but instead it can be deadly to us. Because of the amount of hormones that are being injected into them, plants and trees are being sprayed with insecticide, fertilizers as though these liquids are water. Then they are being sold to groceries, farmers etc, for us to buy and eat. 

Is there any cure for cancer?

   Since cancer has been detected, no cure solution has ever been introduced. Various anti–cancer tablets and chemotherapy was put in place in order to control cancer cells. Cancer, AIDS and Sugar diabetes are the three major sicknesses that have no cure. Although there are things out there to help cancer. It is proven that more and more people are getting cancer. Women have become prone to Breast cancer for the past 3o years. United States had even poured out $30 billion to help find a solution to cure cancer.