Category: Thyroid Cancer

The thyroid gland within the body is located towards the front of the neck, and it can be felt just below the Adam’s apple space. The organ is butterfly shaped, and stretches over the middle of the neck, just below the thyroid cartilage. The most common forms of thyroid cancer are follicular and papillary thyroid cancer, and about every 9 in 10 people with thyroid cancer suffer from these variations.

Most people think that the telltale sign of cancer is a lump or dimpling in the affected area of the body. While that may be true for some types of cancer it is not always the case. A perfect example of this can be found in thyroid cancer.

According to the National Cancer Institute, thyroid cancer is perhaps the most common type of endocrine-related cancer that individuals may experience, with around 60,220 new cases emerging during 2013. Today, thyroid cancer accounts for almost 4% of all new cancer cases. Importantly, although a diagnosis of cancer can be very frightening for the patient involved, it’s important to remember that there are different types of thyroid cancer, and most of these are highly treatable.

No one knows for sure what is the root cause of thyroid cancer. Researchers have, however, found evidence that certain changes in an individual’s DNA can be a trigger that causes one’s thyroid cells to turn cancerous. Our DNA contains specific instructions on how our cells divide and when they should grow.

Typically, when managing patients diagnosed with cancer, doctors and health experts use survival rates as a way of discussing the specific outlook or prognosis a person has. Some patients who suffer with cancer may want to learn the survival statistics associated with people who have been in similar situations to them, whereas others may find that the numbers are unhelpful or even distressing. While understanding thyroid cancer survival rates can help you to get a better picture of your condition, this should be approached with caution, as circumstances and external factors have a huge impact on individual prognosis.

The main thyroid cancer treatments that are used by doctors and oncology experts today include radiotherapy and surgery, and may also require patients to begin a course of thyroid hormones.

You don’t need to have every symptom to have thyroid cancer, but here are 6 common early warning signs that could spell out thyroid cancer.