Thyroid Cancer
What is the Thyroid?
What is the Thyroid?
It's a butterfly-shaped gland in your neck that makes hormones that goes into your blood and then to every cell in your body.
Thyroid hormones play a big role in making your body work right. they help keep you warm and give you energy. They also support your muscles as well as your heart, brain and other organs.
Thyroid hormones play a big role in making your body work right. they help keep you warm and give you energy. They also support your muscles as well as your heart, brain and other organs.
What Is Thyroid Cancer?
When you have cancer, faulty cells grow out of control and crowd out healthy ones. There are four types of thyroid cancer: papillary, follicular, medullary, and anaplastic.
How serious the illness is-- and the kind of treatment you get--depends in part on which type you have.
Nodule of your thyroid
When you have cancer, faulty cells grow out of control and crowd out healthy ones. There are four types of thyroid cancer: papillary, follicular, medullary, and anaplastic.
How serious the illness is-- and the kind of treatment you get--depends in part on which type you have.
Nodule of your thyroid
Thyroid cancer may not cause any symptoms early on. The first sign is often a small bump "nodule," on your thyroid gland. It's not something you're likely to notice on your own. Your doctor usually feels it in a physical exam. They might spot it in an X-ray or CT scan, often after you get one for another problem. About 90% of the times these nodules are benign(noncancerous) and need little or no treatment.
What To Watch For
What To Watch For
As thyroid cancer gets more advanced you might notice symptoms like:
*Lump or swelling in your neck that is fast growing
* Pain at the front of your neck or moving up to your ears.
* Constant cough or hoarseness with no obvious cause
* Troubling breathing or swallowing
These could suggest a number of different illnesses, beside thyroid cancer, so talk to your doctor about al your symptoms.
Diagnosis
*Lump or swelling in your neck that is fast growing
* Pain at the front of your neck or moving up to your ears.
* Constant cough or hoarseness with no obvious cause
* Troubling breathing or swallowing
These could suggest a number of different illnesses, beside thyroid cancer, so talk to your doctor about al your symptoms.
Diagnosis
Your doctor may start with a physical exam and ask you about your family history. They may put a small, thin camera down your throat to look for problems, a procedure called laryngoscopy. They might take images of your thyroid with an MRI, CT scan or ultrasound. To make a diagnosis of thyroid cancer, your doctor will do a biopsy by removing some thyroid tissues and checking it for cancer cells.
Anaplastic
Anaplastic
It's fairly rare, making up about 2% of all thyroid cancers, and it's most common in older women. It grows and spreads quickly to other parts of the body. It's called "undifferentiated" because the cells don't look like normal thyroid cells. It's hard to treat. In some cases, it seems to grow from papillary or follicular cancer.
Causes
Causes
Scientist don't exactly know what causes thyroid cancer, but there are certain things that make them to appear more likely to get, such as:
* Radiation therapy around the head or neck as a child
* Low iodine diet (uncommon in the U.S.)
* Ages 25--65
*Female
* Asian ethnicity
* You previously had goiter
* Family or personal history of thyroid disease or thyroid cancer
* Genetic conditions like, FMTC, MEN2A, or MEN2B
Treatment
* Radiation therapy around the head or neck as a child
* Low iodine diet (uncommon in the U.S.)
* Ages 25--65
*Female
* Asian ethnicity
* You previously had goiter
* Family or personal history of thyroid disease or thyroid cancer
* Genetic conditions like, FMTC, MEN2A, or MEN2B
Treatment
Surgery is the first line of defence for thyroid cancer. Your surgeon might remove some or all of the glands and the surrounding lymph nodes, depending on the extent or type of the cancer. Often surgery is enough, but when the tumor is larger or spread elsewhere, your doctor may suggest radiation, chemotherapy, radioactive iodine, or targeted therapy that goes after specific cancer cells.
Credit:WebMD
Credit:WebMD