Thyroid cancer is the form of cancer that starts in the tissues of the thyroid gland which is an endocrine gland, situated at the front of a person’s neck. The thyroid gland has two types of cells; follicular cells and C Cells. The follicular cells are the cells within the thyroid that produce the thyroid hormone. It is this hormone which helps regulate the body’s metabolism. C cells produce calcitonin which is a part of the body’s calcium metabolism process.
Symptoms
Thyroid cancer is usually asymptomatic in the early stages but as it grows some of the symptoms that may be displayed are a lump in the front of the neck, voice changes, swollen lymph nodes in the neck, pain in the neck and throat and difficulty swallowing.
Types
The main types of thyroid cancer are papillary thyroid cancer and follicular thyroid cancer, the rare medullary thyroid cancer (MTC), Hurthle cell cancer, anaplastic thyroid cancer, and thyroid lymphoma. Of these, papillary thyroid cancer is the most common form. The follicular thyroid cancer is also found to originate from the follicular cells but unlike the papillary thyroid cancer, it rarely spreads to the lymph nodes. A rarer form of this cancer is the Hurthle cell cancer, which originates from a particular type of follicular cell and has a higher likelihood of spreading to the lymph nodes than other follicular cancers. Medullary thyroid cancer or MTC originates from the C cells of the thyroid and is usually found to be the result of a genetic syndrome. Hence, the family members of a person with this cancer, are also at the risk of developing it. Anaplastic thyroid cancer is fast-growing and usually originates from differentiated thyroid cancer or a thyroid tumor that is benign. It is poorly differentiated. Thyroid lymphoma is one of the rare types of thyroid cancer. It originates from the immune system cells present in the thyroid. It grows quickly and is usually diagnosed in older people.
Causes
The causes of thyroid cancer are still not known. However, there are certain risk factors that include being a breast cancer survivor, radiation exposure, low iodine diet, and genetic syndromes. Women are also more likely to get thyroid cancer than men.
Treatment
Thyroid cancers are usually cured with a combination of treatments in addition to surgical removal of the cancer. Surgery can be done through an open incision- laparoscopically or robotically. The types of surgery are lobectomy, near-total thyroidectomy, and total thyroidectomy which are the removal of a lobe of the thyroid, removal of almost the entire thyroid gland and removal of the entire thyroid gland respectively. Other treatment options that can be prescribed along with surgery are hormone treatment, radioactive iodine (radioiodine) therapy, external-beam radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy.
