It is a type of cancer caused by the transformation of cells in the thyroid gland into cancer. Thyroid cancers usually occur in the form of a lump in a mass or thyroid gland in the neck. Most thyroid cancers are destroyed by surgery and radioactive iodine treatment and do not shorten the patient's life expectancy.
The cause of Thyroid cancer, which is 2 times more common in women than in men, is not fully known.
As with other cancers, exposure to radiation increases the frequency of thyroid cancer. It was found that the incidence of thyroid cancer increased after 20-25 years in people who received around 200-700 rad of radiation as a child. A study found that the incidence of thyroid cancer in individuals receiving around 500 rads of radiation was around 2%. After the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in Russia, there was a huge increase in thyroid cancer in people living in that region. Recent research has shown that some genetic disorders play an important role in thyroid cancers.
Thyroid cancer does not show symptoms in most patients. But mass in the neck, hoarseness, growth in the lymph nodes are the most common symptoms. Rarely, difficulty swallowing, tremors in the hands, heart rhythm disorder, palpitations, excessive sweating, dryness of the skin, diarrhea, constipation can also be seen.
In all thyroid cancers, the thyroid gland and the surrounding lymph nodes are surgically removed. After the surgery, high doses of radioactive iodine are treated in armoured hospital rooms according to the type of cancer. Thus, it is aimed to kill cancer cells that have remained elsewhere in the body. The dose of this radioactive iodine depends on the degree to which the cancer spreads. In some cases, this method may need to be repeated. For this, a period of 6 months is expected to pass.
Radiotherapy and chemotherapy can be performed after surgery in some types of cancer.
After treatment, patients are given the hormone thyroxine. Because the TSH level should be lowered. High TSH causes recurrence of cancer.
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