The initial treatment of thyroid cancer should not be ignored

Patients with thyroid cancer all hope to be cured as soon as possible, but this disease is a malignant tumor after all, so it is not easy to cure. It not only requires choosing a good treatment method, but also requires combining the patient's specific situation. This is especially true for patients in the early stages of treatment.

The initial treatment of thyroid cancer should not be neglected

Selection of the first treatment method: Patients are divided into several risk groups based on their age, gender, size, extent, histological grade, DNA ploidy, and presence of distant metastasis, so as to facilitate the selection of treatment options. Male patients aged over 45 years are high-risk patients; patients with high degree of differentiation, large primary tumors, thyroid invasion, and distant metastasis are high tumor risks.

Female patients under 45 years old, with tumors confined to the gland, good tissue differentiation and no distant metastasis are low-risk patients. Understanding the factors related to clinical prognosis is very helpful in understanding the surgical indications for total thyroidectomy. Patients with distant metastasis, diffuse involvement of the entire thyroid gland, multiple nodules in both thyroid lobes, and extensive invasion outside the thyroid gland all require total thyroidectomy; a single nodule confined to one thyroid lobe is an indication for ipsilateral thyroid lobe resection. Grouping according to patient risk and tumor risk is very helpful in guiding the selection of the first treatment plan.

1. Surgery

Surgical treatment of thyroid cancer includes surgery on the thyroid gland itself and neck lymph node dissection. There is still disagreement on the extent of thyroidectomy, with the smallest range being lobe and isthmus resection and the largest being total thyroidectomy.

2. Endocrine therapy

Patients who undergo subtotal or total thyroidectomy should take thyroxine tablets for life to prevent hypothyroidism and suppress TSH. Both papillary adenocarcinoma and follicular adenocarcinoma have TSH receptors, and TSH can affect the growth of thyroid cancer through its receptors.

3. Radionuclide therapy

For papillary adenocarcinoma and follicular adenocarcinoma, 131 iodine radiotherapy is used after surgery. It is suitable for patients over 45 years old, those with multiple cancer foci, locally invasive tumors, and those with distant metastases.

4. External beam radiation therapy

Mainly used for anaplastic thyroid cancer.

The above are the relatively effective methods for treating and controlling thyroid cancer today. I hope that after reading this, you will be able to better choose the correct and appropriate treatment method, receive early treatment, and prevent the disease from being delayed.