How long can you live with thyroid cancer

Have you heard of thyroid cancer? As people are under increasing pressure in life, the incidence of thyroid cancer is getting higher and higher. Many patients and their family members and friends are very worried about how long a thyroid cancer patient can live once diagnosed. Let me talk to you about this issue.

The incidence of thyroid cancer has increased rapidly in recent years. The incidence rate in women is much higher than that in men, and the peak age is 20 to 40 years old. When diagnosed with thyroid cancer, patients are depressed and their families are anxious. "How long can we live with this disease?" Strictly speaking, survival time is related to many factors such as pathological type, tumor stage, treatment effect and patient mentality.

Generally speaking, thyroid cancer is not terrible. With early detection and proper treatment, most thyroid cancer patients before the age of 45 can be cured. Among them, 95% of patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancer can survive for a long time. Specifically:

Differentiated thyroid cancer: ① Papillary: The most common thyroid cancer, low-grade malignancy, 10-year survival rate of 80% to 95%, with proper treatment, the prognosis is indeed very good. ② Follicular carcinoma: This type accounts for 5% to 15% of all thyroid cancers, with a better prognosis, less lymph node metastasis, and relatively common hematogenous metastasis, with a 10-year survival rate of 43% to 85%. ③ Medullary thyroid cancer: moderately malignant, occurs in the parafollicular cells of the thyroid, lymph node and hematogenous metastasis are more common, this type accounts for 5% to 10% of all thyroid cancers, and the 10-year survival rate is about 70%.

Undifferentiated thyroid cancer: more common in the elderly, this type accounts for about 5% of all thyroid cancers, with a very high degree of malignancy, rapid development, and poor prognosis. Undifferentiated cancer can be divided into three types: spindle cell type/small cell type/large cell type. The main manifestations are a hard, fixed, unclearly bordered mass in the anterior neck area, accompanied by dysphagia, shortness of breath, hoarseness, and anterior neck pain. The 5-year survival rate is less than 10%.

Therefore, if you feel unwell, you should go to the hospital for examination in time. If you are diagnosed with thyroid cancer, you should actively cooperate with the hospital for treatment. Thyroid cancer can be completely cured and you can survive for a long time.