Ranked as the 12th most common cancer globally, thyroid cancer has a penchant for affecting women three times more frequently than men and is prevalent in younger age groups.
Dr Narayana Subramaniam sheds light on this particular form of cancer that takes root in the thyroid gland, where uncontrolled cell growth takes centre stage.
Located in the front of our neck, the thyroid gland controls and regulates every possible system in our body. Thyroid cancers are quite common and there are four different types.
The most common is “differentiated thyroid cancers”, presenting more often in women than in men. This type has an excellent survival rate, 99 percent survival in 20 years
Risk factors for thyroid cancer include pre-existing thyroid disease, goiter, radiotherapy to the front of the neck, and family history of thyroid cancer.
There is another group of thyroid cancer that is seen among the middle-aged. It’s called medullary thyroid cancer, and those are slightly rare and need a different kind of treatment.
Most treatments for this condition centres around surgery. Surgical removal of the cancer from the body is often accompanied by additional treatments like radioiodine therapy.