Survival For Different Types Of Thyroid Cancer
The survival statistics below are from a large European study. They are based on people treated in the UK and Ireland between 2000 and 2007. Treatments improve over time, so people treated now may have a better outlook.
With thyroid cancer, the most important factor that affects survival is the type and stage of thyroid cancer you have.
Survival of 86,690 patients with thyroid cancer: A population-based study in 29 European countries from EUROCARE-5
L Dal Maso and others
European Journal of Cancer Volume 77, pages 140 – 152
These statistics are for relative survival. Relative survival takes into account that some people will die of causes other than cancer. This gives a more accurate picture of cancer survival.
Papillary Carcinoma Of The Thyroid
What is papillary carcinoma of the thyroid?
The thyroid gland is the shape of a butterfly and sits above your collarbone at the center of your neck. Its function is to secrete hormones that regulate your metabolism and growth.
Unusual lumps on your neck can be a symptom of a thyroid problem. Most of the time, the lump will be benign and harmless. It could be a simple buildup of excess thyroid cells that have formed a mass of tissue. Sometimes the lump is a papillary carcinoma of the thyroid.
There are five types of thyroid cancer. Papillary carcinoma of the thyroid is the most common type. This cancer is most common in adults over the age of 45.
Papillary carcinoma of the thyroid is a slow-growing cancer that typically develops in only one lobe of the thyroid gland. When caught in its early stages this cancer has a high survival rate.
What Are The Causes Of Papillary Carcinoma Of The Thyroid
The exact cause of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid is unknown. There may be a genetic mutation involved but more research is need to confirm this hypothesis.
One risk factor for the disease is exposure of the head, neck, or chest to radiation. This happened more often before the 1960s when radiation was a common treatment for conditions like acne and inflamed tonsils. Radiation is still sometimes used to treat certain cancers.
People exposed to nuclear disasters or have lived within 200 miles of a nuclear disaster are at high risk. They may need to take potassium iodide to reduce their risk of developing cancer.
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Data Source And Study Population
The Korean NHIS is the sole mandatory public medical insurance system for all citizens of South Korea and is managed by the Korean government. Recently, the NHIS released the NHIS-HEALS database , including 514 866 randomly selected Koreans aged 4079 years who were eligible for the National Health Screening Program. The database incorporated longitudinal information of participants demographic, medical, and pharmaceutical records based on the International Classification of Disease, 10th revision data of medical procedures hospitalization biochemical laboratory test results, such as those of blood pressure, fasting glucose, and lipid profiles and drug prescriptions were recorded. In addition, the database was merged with death records including the specific causes of death based on the ICD-10 codes, managed by the Korean National Statistical Office. A more detailed cohort protocol is already published elsewhere .
This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Korea University Anam Hospital . Informed consent was not required because this study was based on the NHIS database, which are fully anonymized and de-identified for analysis.
Prognosis And Survival Rates For Thyroid Cancer
When someone is diagnosed with thyroid cancer, their doctor will give them a prognosis. A prognosis is the doctors opinion of how likely the cancer will spread and the chances of getting better. A prognosis depends on the type and stage of cancer, test results and a persons age, fitness and medical history.
The most common types of thyroid cancer have an excellent long-term prognosis, especially if the cancer is found only in the thyroid or nearby lymph nodes in the neck. Even if the cancer has spread, the outcome can still be good.
Doctors commonly use 5-year survival rates as a way to discuss prognosis. This is because research studies often follow people for 5 years it does not mean you will survive for only 5 years. Thyroid cancer has a very high 5-year survival rate .
If you have thyroid cancer, your doctor will talk to you about your individual situation when working out your prognosis. Every persons experience is different, and there is support available to you.
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Side Effects Of Thyroid Hormone Treatment
Thyroid hormone pills themselves do not usually cause side effects, but it can take some time to get the dosage right, and you may experience symptoms of either or while you and your doctor work to determine the correct dose.
Symptoms of too much thyroid hormone may include:
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Increased heart rate
Symptoms of too little thyroid hormone may include:
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dry skin and hair
Definitely check in with your doctor if you feel you are experiencing any of the above symptoms so that your dosage can be properly adjusted.
What Happens After A Thyroid Cancer Diagnosis
The disparity by sex in the prevalence of small papillary thyroid cancers found during life and after death suggests that many women are receiving treatment for small tumors that might never have caused symptoms, Dr. Davies explained.
The factors that lead more women to get a diagnosis of small papillary thyroid cancer are numerous and complex, she said. Women tend to be more likely than men to seek medical care overall. Theyre more likely to encounter health issues that may have hormonal causes, such as difficulties with pregnancy.
Thyroid ultrasound is widely used to evaluate medical problems that may involve the thyroid. But its not intended to be used to screen people who dont have symptoms for thyroid cancer, Dr. Davies explained. However, she added, it often gets ordered along with other tests to speed the process of diagnosing a potential thyroid issue.
That can lead to finding things that were unrelated to someones symptoms. And that can also distract from discovering the real cause of the problem someone came to the clinic for, said Dr. Davies.
The biggest challenge, said Dr. Haymart, is that its currently impossible to predict which tumors found by chance will pose a threat to health.
How do you determine which cancers might be indolent and just sit there for the rest of the patients life, and which ones might be aggressive and potentially cause harm? she asked. Thats very difficult to tease out.
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Women Are More At Risk
Women account for 75% of all thyroid cancer cases, but experts aren’t sure why, says Steven I. Sherman, MD, associate vice provost and clinical research chair at the University of Texas MD Anderson Medical Center in Houston. “There is a correlation between increased risk for thyroid cancer for a woman between the puberty and menopause years, but there are no conclusive results it has anything to do with hormones,” says Dr. Sherman. Some studies suggest estrogen is a growth factor both for benign and malignant thyroid cells, further suggesting gender plays a role in the prevalence of thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer, though more research is needed to solidify this claim.
What Are The Stages Of Thyroid Cancer
Once you have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, you will undergo testing to determine how far the cancer has spread, also known as the stage. Knowing the stage of your cancer helps your doctor to decide the most appropriate treatment.
The staging of papillary or follicular thyroid cancers is based on the age of the person at diagnosis specifically if they are younger or older than age 55 and the extent to which thyroid cancer cells have spread. The staging of anaplastic and medullary thyroid cancers does not take age into account.
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Ultrasounds Help Diagnose Thyroid Cancer
Thyroid cancer incidence has doubled since the 1970s, but that’s likely due to early surveillance and heightened awareness. “Thyroid ultrasound was in its infancy about 30 years agoânow they are being prescribed for any swelling of the neck,” David Myssiorek, MD, an otolaryngologist at NYU Langone Medical Center. Similar to an ultrasound technician dropping a blob of cold lubricant on a pregnant woman’s belly, the same is done on the neck region. The tool used looks exactly like the one administered to track a fetus’ growth. “An ultrasound of the neck area is performed to evaluate a thyroid for a mass,” says Dr. Myssiorek. “Additionally, ultrasound may play a role in determining where and how a biopsy is obtained after localizing a thyroid nodule.”
What About Thyroid Hormone Pills After Thyroid Cancer Surgery
Regardless of whether a patient has just one thyroid lobe and the isthmus removed, or the entire thyroid gland removed, most experts agree they should be placed on thyroid hormone for the rest of their lives. This is to replace the hormone in those who have no thyroid left, and to suppress further growth of the gland in those with some tissue left in the neck. There is good evidence that follicular carcinoma responds to thyroid stimulating hormone secreted by the pituitary, therefore, exogenous thyroid hormone is given which results in decreased TSH levels and a lower impetus for any remaining cancer cells to grow. Recurrence and mortality rates have been shown to be lower in patients receiving suppression.
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The Thyroid Is The True Master Of Our Health: The Signals Of Your Body That You Can Not Underestimate
Do you feel depressed, apathetic, suffer from anxiety, tachycardia, cant get pregnant, and complain about mood swings? Check your thyroid, a small gland located at the front of the neck, so important that it is considered vital because, in its absence, it is impossible to live. More than 6million Italians have a thyroid problem, and a third of them completely ignore it, attributing the manifest symptoms to other and various pathologies. This gland regulates many essential functions of our organism, from the blood circulation to the rhythm of sleep, from the metabolism of the bones to the development of the nervous system, from the heartbeat to fertility. Its hormones heavily affect the mood, have effects on the basal metabolism of all tissues, including brains, and act on the disintegration of fats, protein synthesis, and gluconeogenesis. To deepen read also: Back pain, the useless drugs abused To understand the vital role of thyroid hormones, just think that their deficit in fetal age or early childhood causes cretinism, a pathology characterized by incomplete development of the central nervous system and mental retardation.
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Types Of Thyroid Cancer
There are 4 main types of thyroid cancer:
- papillary carcinoma the most common type, accounting for about 8 in 10 cases it usually affects people under 40, particularly women
- follicular carcinoma accounts for up to 1 in 10 cases and tends to affect middle-aged adults, particularly women
- medullary thyroid carcinoma accounts for less than 1 in 10 cases unlike the other types, it can run in families
- anaplastic thyroid carcinoma the rarest and most serious type, accounting for around 1 in 50 cases it usually affects people over the age of 60
Papillary and follicular carcinomas are sometimes known as differentiated thyroid cancers. They tend to be easier to treat than the other types.
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What About Other Treatments I Hear About
When you have cancer you might hear about other ways to treat the cancer or treat your symptoms. These may not always be standard medical treatments. These treatments may be vitamins, herbs, special diets, and other things. You may wonder about these treatments.
Some of these are known to help, but many have not been tested. Some have been shown not to help. A few have even been found to be harmful. Talk to your doctor about anything youre thinking about using, whether its a vitamin, a diet, or anything else.
Why Have Thyroid Cancer Diagnoses Spiked For Us Women
Since the 1990s, a boom in the use of thyroid ultrasound has led to thyroid cancer diagnoses more than tripling.
Thyroid cancer is diagnosed more often in women than men. And over the past few decades, this sex-based gap has grownsubstantially.
A new study, however, indicates that this disparity isnt what it seems on the surface. A large contributor appears to be that women are more likely to be diagnosed with small thyroid cancers that would have been unlikely to cause problems during their lifetime, researchers reported August 30 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Women were more than four times as likely as men to be diagnosed with a small papillary thyroid cancer during their lives, the study found. Such cancers are rarely fatal. In contrast, diagnoses of aggressive and often deadly types of thyroid cancer were nearly equal in men and women. There was also no real difference between sexes in small papillary thyroid cancers found on autopsy, which werent detected during life.
The study wasnt designed to pinpoint the cause of this imbalance. But women are more likely than men to undergo tests for other medical reasons that can detect these small cancers that otherwise would have probably not been found. And as clinicians, were primed to think about thyroid problems more often in women, said Louise Davies, M.D., M.S., of the Department of Veterans Affairs, who led the new research.
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What Kind Of Treatment Will I Need
There are many ways to treat thyroid cancer but surgery is the main treatment. The treatment plan thats best for you will depend on:
- The stage of the cancer
- The chance that a type of treatment will cure the cancer or help in some way
- Other health problems you have
- Your feelings about the treatment and the side effects that come with it
Depending on the type and stage of your thyroid cancer, you may need more than 1 type of treatment.
Living With Advanced Cancer
Advanced cancer usually means cancer that is unlikely to be cured. During this time palliative care services can help. Most people with thyroid cancer respond well to treatment and do not need to access palliative care services. However, people at any stage of advanced thyroid cancer may benefit from palliative treatment.
Most people continue to have treatment for advanced cancer as part of palliative care, as it helps manage the cancer and improve their day-to-day lives. Many people think that palliative care is for people who are dying but palliative care is for any stage of advanced cancer. There are doctors, nurses and other people who specialise in palliative care.
Treatment may include chemotherapy, radiation therapy or another type of treatment. It can help in these ways:
- Slow down how fast the cancer is growing.
- Shrink the cancer.
- Help you to live more comfortably by managing symptoms, like pain.
Treatment depends on:
- how far it has spread
- your general health
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Radioactive Iodine Treatment Is Common
Radioactive iodine treatment is often used after the thyroid is removed to destroy any remaining thyroid tissue, as well as microscopic areas of thyroid cancer that weren’t removed during surgery. The dose is taken in pill or liquid form and patients are required to be isolated from other people for at least three to five days.
Before undergoing this type of therapy, patients are advised to go on a
low iodine diet to ultimately starve their body of iodine, an element that is essential for the production of thyroid hormone. When iodine is reintroduced through RAI it will kill remaining thyroid tissue and cancer cells. “Think of thyroid tissue like a sponge,” says Dr. Sherman. “For a sponge to soak up a maximum amount of water, first it must be wrung out of all the water it already contained.”
Treatment For Thyroid Cancer
Surgery to remove the thyroid and any affected lymph nodes is the preferredtreatment. Afterward, the patient will takethyroid hormonesto cover the loss of the gland and radioactive iodine to treat anyremaining cancer cells.
Traditional surgical removal of the thyroid gland, or thyroidectomy, leavesa prominent scar on the front of the neck. Russell notes that some thyroidcancer survivors are fine with their thyroidectomy scar and regard it as abadge of honor.
But plenty of patients dont want the constant reminder of cancer surgeryeach time they look in the mirror. Or they dont necessarily want a scar tobe the first thing a stranger notices. They say Its my business that Ihad a problem with my thyroid, Russell says.
Russell offers patients the option of ascarless thyroidectomy, in which the surgeon reaches the thyroid gland and removes it through themouth, so theres no cutting or scarring of the neck.
Though initially skeptical about the novel approach, Russell studied thetechnique in Thailand and saw that scarless thyroidectomy could be avaluable alternative to a traditional approach. Now Russells clinic is aleader in performing scarless thyroidectomies and trains surgeons from allover the world.
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Intolerance To High Temperature
There are numerous causes due to which hyperthyroidism occurs the common ones are Graves disease, Multi-nodular goiter and excessive consumption of iodine supplements.
Graves Disease: The body produces auto-immunoglobulin , which stimulates the thyroid gland to secrete the hormones.
Toxic Nodular/Multi-Nodular Goiter There is formation of nodules in the gland which is responsible for increase in the secretion of thyroid hormones.
The condition is generally not that fatal except in the cases of Thyroid Storm, which is the ultimate complication of hyperthyroidism. In this condition, the patients blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature are very high.