Thyroid Cancer
It is a disease caused by abnormal cell growth in the thyroid gland. This gland is responsible for producing hormones which regulate the manner by which the body utilizes energy and assists the body to work normally.
Thyroid cancer is not very common and eminently treatable. Post-treatment, the thyroid cancer could revert, even after many years. It is believed the DNA in our bodies play a major role in this case. These DNA may be inherited or change as a person grows older. There is a greater chance of getting thyroid cancer if a person is exposed to a lot of radiation. Radiation treatment of chest, head or neck may increase the chance of you getting afflicted with thyroid cancer.
Symptoms
The thyroid cancer may give rise to a number of symptoms:
It is a disease caused by abnormal cell growth in the thyroid gland. This gland is responsible for producing hormones which regulate the manner by which the body utilizes energy and assists the body to work normally.
Thyroid cancer is not very common and eminently treatable. Post-treatment, the thyroid cancer could revert, even after many years. It is believed the DNA in our bodies play a major role in this case. These DNA may be inherited or change as a person grows older. There is a greater chance of getting thyroid cancer if a person is exposed to a lot of radiation. Radiation treatment of chest, head or neck may increase the chance of you getting afflicted with thyroid cancer.
Symptoms
The thyroid cancer may give rise to a number of symptoms:
- There could be a swelling or lump in the neck. This is a very common symptom
- There could be a pain in neck and occasionally in the ears
- There could be trouble in swallowing
- Constant wheezing or trouble in breathing
- Hoarse voice
- Frequent cough unrelated to colds
A few afflicted individuals may not show any kind of symptoms. Their physicians could discover nodule or lump in neck during standard physical exam. In case you have a neck lump, the doctor could do biopsy of the thyroid gland to check whether cancer cells are present or not. At times, there will be uncertainty about the biopsy. In such a case you have to remove a part or all the thyroid gland.
Medications
Even as thyroid cancer can be treated through surgery, medicines are also required to treat cancer and also for replacing the thyroid hormones.
- Radioactive iodine: This is utilized post surgery to annihilate any thyroid tissue which continues to exist in the body.
- TSH suppression therapy: This reduces TSH in body and slows remaining cancer cells growth
- Thyroid hormone medicine: This substitutes the required thyroid hormones which are manufactured by the thyroid gland. If there is a surgical removal of the thyroid gland, the patient may need to take replacement pills for thyroid the rest of his or her life
- Chemotherapy is occasionally utilized to treat thyroid cancer that has come back post surgery. It is also used to treat anaplastic thyroid cancer which is non-reactive to radioactive iodine use
You could also be subjected to targeted therapy through the use of TKIs or tyrosine kinase inhibitors like sunitinib and sorafenib. This procedure is presently under clinical trials.
