Thyroid Cancer - Medtick
Medtick

Thyroid Cancer

What is it?

A rare form of cancer and is cancer of the thyroid gland that can be mistaken for goitre (non-cancerous nodules and swellings on thyroid gland) in hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism.

  • It tends to affect women more than men; less aggressive forms occur mainly to persons under 40 years old and thus are more treatable (papillary carcinoma).
  • More aggressive forms occur to persons between 60-80 years old (anaplastic thyroid carcinoma).

Thyroid Gland

The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland at the base of your neck that makes hormones that help regulate your blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, and weight.

The four main types of thyroid cancer, including:

  • Papillary or mixed papillary-follicular thyroid cancer (solid, irregular or cystic mass over thyroid tissue)
  • Follicular or Hurthle cell thyroid cancer
  • Medullary thyroid cancer
  • Anaplastic thyroid cancer
  • Thyroid lymphoma
  • Thyroid sarcoma
  • Thyroid carcinoma most commonly manifests as a painless, palpable, solitary thyroid nodule.
  • Patients or physicians discover most of these nodules during routine palpation of the neck.
  • Most palpable thyroid nodules represent benign disease.
  • Palpable and nonpalpable nodules of similar size have the same risk for malignancy.

Medscape

Diagnose Tests

  • Fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB)
  • Neck ultrasonography
  • Thyroid radioiodine imaging
  • Neck computed tomography (CT) scanning
  • Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
  • Positron emission tomography (PET) scanning (assess recurrent disease)
  • Blood tests
  • Biopsy

Cause

  • Overweight and/or obesity
  • Exposure to radiation i.e. in nuclear power plants or nuclear explosions/disasters
  • Family history (medullary thyroid carcinoma)
  • Familial adenomatous polyposis- genetic condition where one has abnormal growth in intestine.
  • Hashimoto’s thyroiditis- one’s own body immune system attacks one’s thyroid gland
  • Carney complex type 1- hereditary condition defects in the PRKAR1A gene associated with spotty skin pigmentation; myxomas
  • Low iodine levels
  • Mixed cryoglobulinemia (triggered by the cold)
  • Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2
  • Non-cancerous growth of thyroid gland
  • Parvovirus B19 (fifth disease)
  • Chemical solvents used in manufacturing, engineering, textiles exposure.

Treatments

  • Hysterectomy
  • Ionised radiation from regular radiotherapy, x-rays (range from 5-20 years later)

 

Syndromes

Higher Risk

  • Age 25 to 65 years old
  • Female sex
  • Low diet iodine intake
  • Family history of thyroid disease i.e. Familiar Medullary thyroid cancer
  • Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2
  • History of goitre (lump in throat)
  • Asian race

Medscape

 

Symptoms

Complications /Information to beware of/General tips:

This condition can cause the symptom:

This condition may show similar symptoms to:

Please talk to your healthcare professional (i.e. Medical Doctor/Pharmacist) for further advice

Detailed Information

Please copy and paste any key words from the title: Thyroid Cancer in the following respective 'Medtick References and/or Sources' to find out more about the disease (this also may include diagnosis tests and generic medical treatments).

© Medtick - 2025. All Rights Reserved.