Atlantic Pathology

What is thyroid cancer?

Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine cancer; nevertheless, it is rare in comparison with other cancers. In the United States, there are approximately 20,000 new patients per year. Although a cancer diagnosis is terrifying, the forecast for thyroid cancer patients is usually excellent. First, because most thyroid cancers are easily curable with surgery. Second, because thyroid cancer rarely produces pain or incapacity. Third, an easy and effective process exists to treat the most common forms of thyroid cancer.

What are the signs of thyroid cancer?

The main sign of thyroid cancer is a lump (nodule) in the thyroid and most cancers produce no symptoms. Nevertheless, doctors can discover the nodule during a routine physical exam or you can notice a lump in the neck when looking at yourself in the mirror. Some patients with thyroid cancer complain of neck pain or pain in the jaw or the ears. If the cancer nodule is large, it can cause difficulty swallowing, a tickling in the throat, or difficulty breathing if it is pressuring the windpipe. It can sometimes, but rarely, produce hoarseness if the cancer irritates a nerve that goes toward the larynx.

What is the cause of thyroid cancer?

Thyroid cancer is more common in people with history of exposing the thyroid gland to radiation, have a family history of thyroid cancer, or in people over the age of 40. Nevertheless, in most patients, the specific reason for developing thyroid cancer is unknown.

Exposure to radiation can cause thyroid cancer in susceptible patients, especially if the exposure occurred during infancy.

Thyroid cancer can also be caused by absorbing radioactive iodine freed during an accident at a nuclear energy plant, such as the one that occurred at Chernobyl in Russia. Exposed children were the most affected and the cancers began a few years after the disaster. You can be protected from developing thyroid cancer at a nuclear plant accident by taking potassium iodide, which prevents the thyroid gland from absorbing the radioactive iodine. The United States government is currently developing some recommendations to distribute potassium iodide to the people that live near nuclear energy plants.