Early detection of thyroid cancer
Thyroid cancer is easy to detect in the early stages. Get checked immediately if there are abnormalities in the neck such as strange lumps, neck lymph nodes, or a feeling of choking..
Thyroid cancer accounts for 1% of all cancers. Survival rates depend on the stage of cancer, the malignancy of the tumor cells, and the age of the patient.
In recent years, with the development of diagnostic ultrasound, detecting early stage thyroid cancer is becoming easier. There are cases where the disease is detected with tumors less than 5 mm in size.
Early stage well-differentiated thyroid cancer has a high chance of being cured. Therefore, detecting thyroid cancer at an early stage is extremely important because it helps increase the cure rate and limit the sequelae and complications of surgical and radiotherapy treatments.
 |
| Thyroid cancer can be cured if detected early. Illustration: 115. |
How to detect thyroid cancer early
- Patients need to see an oncologist immediately if they detect abnormalities in the neck such as neck tumors, neck lymph nodes, feeling of choking in the neck...
- When a goiter is accidentally detected through ultrasound or physical examination, the patient needs to immediately see an oncologist or endocrinologist to determine whether it is thyroid cancer or not.
Diagnosis of thyroid cancer
"Thyroid nodules" are tumors in the thyroid gland that can be felt or detected only by thyroid ultrasound with an image that is different from the surrounding normal thyroid tissue. To detect "thyroid nodules", the doctor will perform a clinical examination and evaluate the properties of these thyroid nodules, specifically examining whether there are accompanying neck lymph nodes, exploiting the history and progression of the disease.
The patient is then assigned a thyroid color ultrasound to assess the nature and number of "thyroid nodules" and detect abnormal neck lymph nodes. If one or more "thyroid nodules" are detected during the ultrasound, there is a possibility of thyroid cancer with a general rate of 4-6.5%.
Next, to classify the groups of causes of the disease, the patient is given a blood test to measure the TSH concentration. Finally, the patient needs to do a "fine needle aspiration" (FNA) test to confirm the diagnosis of thyroid cancer.
How to perform FNA
Under ultrasound guidance, the doctor uses a syringe attached to a very thin needle to draw cells from the tumor and spread these cells on a glass slide for observation under a microscope. The diagnostic ability of FNA is up to 95% accurate if enough sample is taken and the pathologist is experienced.
FNA is indicated for all cases of "thyroid nodules" that can be felt through examination, "thyroid nodules" that are 1 cm or larger in size through ultrasound. If the thyroid nodule is less than 1 cm in size and detected by ultrasound, FNA should only be performed when there are suspicious features of malignancy through ultrasound images such as poor echo, solid form, microcalcification, irregular edges... FNA is not indicated in cases where the TSH concentration in the blood is reduced and the thyroid scintigraphy shows hot nodules.
Subjects with "thyroid nodules" have a high rate of thyroid cancer: age less than 30 or older than 60; previous head and neck radiation; family members with thyroid cancer.
Thyroid cancer treatment
When the FNA results indicate cancer or suspected cancer, the patient will be given a treatment plan that includes thyroidectomy. Thyroid cancer treatment is a multimodal treatment method, meaning that many treatment methods must be combined together to achieve optimal results such as:
- Thyroidectomy according to oncological principles, with or without neck lymph node dissection.
- Radioactive iodine therapy: Radioactive iodine 131 is introduced into the body to destroy remaining cancer cells.
- Hormone therapy for many years to suppress remaining cancer cells to help reduce the rate of recurrence or slow the time of recurrence.
Depending on the size of the tumor, histological type, and status of cervical lymph node metastasis, the surgical method and postoperative endocrine therapy for each patient are different, and the indications for radioactive iodine use are also different.
After surgery and radioactive iodine treatment, the patient has a long-term, close endocrine treatment and monitoring regimen to minimize the recurrence rate and return the patient to a healthy life like a normal person.
According to Alobacsi.vn
