- Approximately 53,000 people in the United States
are expected to be diagnosed with thyroid cancer this year.
About 2,000 thyroid cancer related deaths
are reported annually,
making it a cancer with positive long term prognosis.
Now the key is though, it needs to be detected early
and patients need to get their best care possible.
So here to talk about the warning signs for thyroid cancer
and how it's treated from Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center,
Dr. Brendan Gaylis.
Doctor, thank you so much for talking to us tonight.
- Thank you for having me on, Ginger.
- This is a topic very close to my heart.
My dad has thyroid cancer
and also a very good family friend
who's only 20 years old,
both have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
So, tell me how common is it?
- Well, thyroid cancer is probably
one of the communist tumors in the head and neck region.
So as you mentioned earlier,
there are about 53,000 cases a year
and it's one of the few cancers
that has actually had a rising incidence
over the past 20 years,
probably most likely due to the fact that
we do a lot more imaging in the head and neck
and patients are incidentally
found to have thyroid tumors and subsequently
get referred for these problems.
Thyroid nodules are extremely common
and so it's important for the public to know that
probably one in three to four women and lesser in men
have nodules in their thyroid gland,
but fortunately, most of them are benign.
And thyroid cancer only makes up a small percentage,
probably 10 to 15% of all these nodules.
So the important thing is that if you do have a lump
in the low part of your neck,
that you seek medical care
and have your primary care physician evaluate you.
- Yeah, let's talk about those symptoms
because I know there is also a House Hunters man
who has a very popular TV show
and it was his producer that said,
"I see something on your neck, you need to go check it out."
So what are those symptoms?
- The commonest symptom of thyroid cancer is a painless mass
in the base of the neck with the thyroid glands.
So it's over the trachea but at the bottom of your neck.
And the commonest symptom will be a lump
that either somebody alerts you to,
or that you find on your own.
And less often, there may be a lump
in another part of the neck,
on the lateral side of the neck,
as the thyroid cancers have a tendency
to spread to lymph nodes in the neck
and the lump may be in a different part of the neck
to the thyroid gland,
but it may harbor a thyroid cancer within it.
- And that's one of the key reasons
for getting the early detection
before it can spread into the lymph nodes
and then the rest of the body.
So what's the treatment
if you're diagnosed with thyroid cancer?
- The mainstay of therapies is surgery,
either removing part or all of the thyroid gland
and also giving consideration to the lymph node,
metastasis lymph nodes in the neck.
So they may have to be removed at the same time.
Additionally, one may or may not
require radioactive iodine therapy,
which is usually administered by nuclear medicine
radiology or by endocrinologist.
- So then what's the impact for that person post treatment,
as far as if they have to live without their thyroid?
- The impact is that
they have to take medication, hormonal medication,
a thyroid hormone tablet for the rest of their life.
As you know, the thyroid gland is part of the body's,
it plays a big role in the body's metabolism,
and it makes a hormone which is essential for us.
So we have to replace that hormone
once we've taken out the gland.
- You know, I mentioned my dad and the close family friend
who both have thyroid cancer.
So, I'm very familiar with their journey,
but I'm curious if you could share with us
the story of a patient that you've treated.
- Well, yes.
This particular patient highlights
one of the issues of thyroid cancer,
which is the fact that it's quite an indolent tumor
and it's not as aggressive as many other malignancies.
And the patient that I am highlighting
is a young lady who came to see me actually
with a thyroid cancer,
but she had just fallen pregnant a few weeks ago
and only found out she was five weeks pregnant.
And as you know, at that time,
it's a very critical not to have surgery
in the first trimester of pregnancy.
We plan to do her surgery
in the second trimester of surgery,
but she had a lot of morning sickness and other symptoms.
And we were able to monitor her tumor
throughout her gestational period
and performed her surgery
after she gave birth to a beautiful baby
and luckily everything turned out very well.
- Yeah, it's extraordinary.
We're looking at the pictures right now.
So there was no impact to the baby
as she is trying to manage this thyroid tumor,
that's what you're telling me?
- Correct.
There was no impact to the baby,
the baby developed perfectly normally.
- So what do you want the takeaway,
for anybody listening to this interview right now,
what do you want them to do
hearing this information tonight?
- Well first of all,
the public needs to be educated
that thyroid nodules are common.
They are mostly very benign and indolent.
However, you need to go into your primary care doctor
if you notice something like this,
or if somebody points a lump in the neck out to you.
And at this time,
particularly with COVID and patients
delaying their medical care,
it's important to go see your doctor,
Here at Scripps we're open to
video visits, telephone visits.
So please come on in
if you're worried about something like this
and we'll take care of it.
- Dr. Gaylis, great information tonight,
early detection is key.
I really appreciate all the work that you're doing for us,
you stay well.
- Thank you very much. - Thank you.