Thyroid cancer occurs in the cells of the thyroid — a butterfly-shaped gland located at the base of your neck, just below your Adam's apple. Thyroid cancer typically doesn't cause any signs or symptoms early in the disease. Symptoms of thyroid cancer can include:
- A lump (nodule) that can be felt through the skin on your neck
- Changes to your voice, including increasing hoarseness
- Difficulty swallowing
- Pain in your neck and throat
- Swollen lymph nodes in your neck
Treatment for thyroid cancer depends on the type of thyroid cancer you have and how far it has spread.
The main treatments are:
Surgery: Surgery is the first treatment for most types of thyroid cancer. It may involve removing:
- part of the thyroid
- the whole thyroid
- nearby lymph glands
radioactive iodine treatment : A course of radioactive iodine treatment is often recommended after surgery.
This will help destroy any remaining cancer cells and reduce the risk of the cancer coming back.
external radiotherapy : If radioactive iodine treatment is not suitable or is ineffective, external radiotherapy may be used after surgery to reduce the risk of thyroid cancer coming back.
It can also be used to control symptoms of advanced or anaplastic thyroid carcinomas if they cannot be fully removed by surgery.
chemotherapy and targeted therapies: Newer medicines known as targeted therapies are being used more widely to treat several types of thyroid cancer.
These specifically target cancer cells, rather than harming healthy cells at the same time, as chemotherapy does.
These may be recommended if thyroid cancer has spread to other parts of the body (metastatic thyroid cancer) and has not responded to radioactive iodine treatment. Chemotherapy is rarely used to treat thyroid cancer, but it's sometimes used to treat anaplastic thyroid carcinomas that have spread to other parts of the body.
Every examination and operation related to the disease should be performed by a properly equipped hospital with the latest medical technology and professional academic medical staff. The Turkish Health Group will definitely direct you to the hospitals with the most modern medical equipment and professional medical staff related to your disease. Contact us for more information and a free second medical reference from a professional Turkish doctors.