Thyroid Cancer: A Case Study

So today I decided to go with my good buddy Isaac to a support group for teens with Cancer. As the group was starting I saw this beautiful figure of a young lady. As the groups shared information about each other she said her name was Hazel Grace Lancaster and was a fighter against Thyroid Cancer In her lungs. This form of Thyroid Cancer causes fluids to flood the lungs stopping them from breathing. So after the meeting was over, Hazel-Grace and I went outside and talked for a while. We chatted about school and how we both are coping with cancer. As time went on I put a cigarette in my mouth, which made her mad. After she finished yelling at me for having a cig in my mouth I told her it’s a metaphor. ( Putting the thing

More than 50% of all patients show signs of distant metastases at the time of diagnosis1. Prognosis remains abysmal, as 90% of patients die within 6 months of diagnosis due to distant metastases or local invasion8. Patients younger than 60 year of age with involvement limited only to the thyroid have a better outlook than older individuals with signs of metastasis5. Ultimately, ATC accounts for more than 50% of all thyroid malignancy-related deaths1.

Seidlin reported on the success of radioactive iodine (I-131) in treating a patient with advanced thyroid cancer. Later, the use of I-131 was expanded to applications such as thyroid gland imaging, hyperthyroidism treatment and quantification of thyroid function. By the 1950s, the clinical use of nuclear medicine had become widespread as researchers increased their understanding of detecting radioactivity and using radionuclides to monitor biochemical processes.” (Dr. Ananya Mandal, MD) With this information, we know that nuclear medicine is successful with multiple cases of diseases. Our technology today has improved on how treatments can be done. Nuclear medicine has improved from the time being. If treating a disease with nuclear medicine back then had been successful, imagine all of the success stories of everyone today who has had the chance of using nuclear medicine. Nowadays, the science and technology has developed so much that it is easy to cure any type of disease when proper guidance is given. If the technology is used properly, the side effects can be reversed. Today, we can easily figure out a way to reverse the effects of what we did to ourselves with all of the equipment, tools, and technology that people

This type of therapy is often used as a means to treat hyperthyroidism, thyroid cancer, bone metastases from prostate and breast tumors, as well as other types of cancer and diseases. It can be used alone or in combination with other therapeutic means of medicine, such as surgery or chemotherapy. Radiation therapy is used in the treatment of approximately 40% to 60% of patients who are diagnosed with cancer (Errors in Radiation Therapy, 2009). In many cases, the

It is often the first resort for doctors when deciding how to treat their patient. First, a test is administered to determine the appropriate dosage for the individual. This is done by intaking a small quantity of the radioactive iodine, and seeing how the thyroid reacts to it. The more iodine the thyroid absorbs, the smaller the prescribed dosage will be. The drug is taken via pill, and is absorbed only by the thyroid cells; thus, no other cells will be affected by the drug’s radiation. Once ingested, the radiation immediately destroys almost all of the thyroid cells. This form of treatment may sound flawless, but it is not certain. There are numerous risks associated with radioactive iodine therapy. The most common would be hypothyroidism, which is the exact opposite of Grave’s disease. Instead of your thyroid overproducing hormones, the opposite occurs: not enough hormones are produced for the body to metabolize. This results in patients having to take thyroid replacement therapy for the rest of their lives (“Radioactive Iodine for Hyperthyroidism” par. 10). Expecting mother also cannot use RAI because the radiation can damage the fetus’ thyroid, which can have a negative effect on its growth and development. In addition to RAI being risky, it is also not the most efficacious treatment option. It can typically take half a year to successfully eliminate the defective

If the gland appears to be enlarged, the physician may order further tests to diagnose or rule out cancer. These tests include: a CT scan or ultrasonography. The ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves that are emitted and received by a transducer that is passed over the neck region. The sound waves penetrate the body, and by electronic readings, the sound waves are arranged on a computer screen into a picture image of the thyroid gland and any tumors (Thackery 1058). Another test used is the thyroid scan. A patient is given radioactive iodine to drink. After the iodine has been absorbed by the thyroid, the patient must lie on his or her back with the neck region positioned under a scanner. The information received by the scanner is then sent to a computer that displays a 2-dimensional image of the thyroid used to identify areas in the thyroid that do not absorb iodine normally (Surks 165). The most accurate diagnostic tool for thyroid cancer is biopsy. The test is done in a hospital operating room under a general anesthesia. A sedative is usually given by an injection about one hour before the procedure. A small incision is made in the neck, and either side of the thyroid or the entire lump is removed. The sample is sent to a laboratory to be examined. If thyroid cancer is detected, the thyroid is removed (Shin 420).

Treatment depends on the cause and size of your nodule or nodules. Treatment may not be necessary if the nodule is benign. Your health care provider may monitor the nodule to see if it goes away on its own. If the nodule does not go away, continues to grow, or is cancerous, the nodule may need to be:

Thyroid cancer is a common endocrine malignant tumor (1). Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common of the well-differentiated carcinomas (85%) (2) and is characterized by distinctive nuclear features.

In figure 1.1, a patient in her 20s is being seen for a sensation of fullness in her neck. The patient had further thyroid testing through ultrasound and other diagnostic tests. Even though she felt normal and her nodules were smaller than the recommended 1.5cm or above, she was told she might have an overactive thyroid by the physician and the patient was given radioactive iodine. The radioactive iodine does the same job as chemotherapy where it wipes out healthy cells along with cancerous cells leading to low or no thyroid function. When the patient came back for a follow up she complained of not feeling the same before she

Iodine 123 is a substance that is used to see where any thyroid tumours are in the body. Both thyroid cancer and thyroid tissue trap iodine. This helps us find where there is active thyroid cancer. This procedure is called a diagnostic thyroid cancer survey. If thyroid cancer is found during your survey, you may have it treated with a dose of a radioactive iodine called Iodine 131. This is called a therapeutic dose.

At this time, it is not clear how much diagnostic radiation is contributing to the increase in thyroid cancer cases. It is possible that the increase in the diagnosis of thyroid cancer can be attributed to a greater rate of detection by use of ultrasonography and fine needle aspiration3. The thyroid tissue itself is among the tissues that are less sensitive to radiation, however, thyroid cancer is still such a concern because the thyroid is so superficial in the body1 (77). “Even doses as small as 50–100 mGy have been associated with an increased risk of thyroid malignancy in children, with a

The main goal of the treatment is to control the over-production o thyroid hormones. The anti-thyroid medications, for instance, have methimazole and propylthiouracil (PTU), which blocks the production of hormones of the thyroid gland. However, there could be some side effects such as allergies and hyperthyroidism may return if the drug is not being used. Sometimes, radioactive iodine treatment is preferred by doctor because it provides a long-term solution, unlike the medications. According to Toft, “Radioactive iodine works by destroying thyroid tissue cells, thereby reducing your thyroid hormone levels.” RAI is usually given as a capsule or in a water-based solution, and the treatment may take months to be effective. The last type of treatment is the thyroidectomy, which is a surgery. The removal of the thyroid gland may be required for some patients that cannot take or tolerate the medications or when those medications have no effect in controlling the overproduction of T3 and T4. Although the total removal of the thyroid gland treats most of the patients, the surgery always results in hypothyroidism, which is a condition where the body lacks sufficient thyroid hormones. In this case, patients that undergo total thyroidectomy need to intake a daily

I'd like to help anyone not to have to go through the things that my

Medullary thyroid cancer is an indolent neuroendocrine tumor that frequently presents with disseminated disease. While locally advanced tumor in the neck and mediastinum can be treated with surgery either for palliative or curative intent, distant metastases are not often amenable to operative excision. Metastatic MTC has a similarly poor response to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Viable therapeutic options for distant metastatic disease are still absent. Survival rate after discovery of distant metastasis has been around 25% at 5 years and 10% after 10 years, though this has more recently been improved due to earlier discovery of the malignancy (12, 13). However, new molecular targets have expedited the oncologic research

Nuclear Medicine is a technology that is used predominately by doctors to study the human body using radioactive isotopes across the world. This technology (Nuclear Medicine) is well above the standard technology used such as x-rays and MRI’S, for the fact that it can demonstrate not only the anatomy of the bodies organs but the physical function of those specific organs as well. Thyroid nodules are very common, which exist in half of today’s population. Traditionally, radionuclide was used to preform possible malignancy, that assess the thyroid nodules. Now that we have came across this newfound technology (nuclear medicine) we can now provide the nuclear medicine specialist information involving the the visualization of detection, as well