The thyroid gland is responsible for making hormones that help your body use energy, regulate temperature, and effectively control your blood pressure and heart rate. Thyroid cancer is the result of cells in the thyroid gland changing and growing out of control. Hereditary predispositions can attribute for many cases of thyroid cancer. Your chances of becoming diagnosed with thyroid cancer are much higher if your father, brother, sister or child has been previously diagnosed. Additionally, thyroid cancer has been linked to certain genetic or hereditary problems. Approximately 25% of Medullary Thyroid Cancer cases are genetic in nature. Other genetic abnormalities that increase the risk of thyroid cancer include Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 2 and Cowden Disease.
Symptoms of Thyroid Cancer
Signs and symptoms may include trouble swallowing, difficulty breathing, hoarseness in the throat or other voice changes, a constant cough, swollen neck glands (usually non-painful), a lump around the Adam's apple in the front of your neck, neck pain that reaches up into ears.
Treatment Options
There are many of ways to treat thyroid cancer. The treatment that you and your doctor decide on will depend on the type and stage of the cancer. Your age, general health, and any other unique attributes specific to your responsiveness to treatment. The good news is that Thyroid Cancer is usually very treatable. That’s because there are effective treatments that give you a great chance for a full recovery.
Thyroidectomy is usually done, it could be partial Thyroidectomy or total Thyroidectomy. If the cancer has spread beyond the Thyroid gland, the doctor will remove any other affected tissue, like Lymph Nodes in the neck.
Ablation with I 131 is another option for many types of Thyroid Cancer.