Diagnosis and Treatment of Thyroid Cancer

Dr. Gonzalo Galofré Pujol is a general surgeon and belongs to Top Doctors, the select circle of top doctors in Spain. As an expert in thyroid cancer, he will explain the details of its diagnosis and treatment.

What is thyroid cancer?

The thyroid is an endocrine gland that regulates metabolism. It is located at the anterior cervical level below the larynx, in front of the trachea and in proximity to the cervical arteries and veins. Nodules may appear in the thyroid throughout life and some of these nodules may be cancerous. There are 4 types of thyroid cancer; papillary and follicular carcinoma are well differentiated tumors, they are frequent tumors and are tumors with a very good prognosis. Medullary carcinoma has an intermediate prognosis. Anaplastic carcinoma is rare and has a very poor prognosis.

How is the diagnosis made?

Thyroid nodules are very frequent. Fifty percent of the population over 50 years of age has thyroid nodules and most of them are benign, according to the Endocrine-Metabolic Diseases and Imaging services of the Hospital del Carme. In the study of these nodules we start with a clinical history, a physical examination, an ultrasound scan and a fine needle biopsy. And with all this study we will determine which nodules are benign and we can even manage to control them, and which nodules are malignant or suspicious in which case we will indicate surgical intervention.

What does the treatment consist of?

The treatment of thyroid nodules is fundamentally surgical. In the case of benign nodules we can remove part of the gland without the need to give thyroid hormone after surgery, and in the case of thyroid cancer the operation is the removal of the entire gland, which we call bilateral total thyroidectomy. After surgery, in the case of papillary or follicular thyroid carcinoma, we do a complementary treatment with iodine 131 which just burns and removes the remnants of thyroid tissue that might have been left in the neck and these patients will need to take a thyroid hormone pill for life.