Thyroid cancer is cancer in the thyroid gland. Doctors can find thyroid cancer by checking for swelling in the neck, blood tests, special scans, or taking a biopsy.
Types
There are four types of thyroid cancer:[1]
| Type of Thyroid Cancer:
|
This Type Makes Up...
|
Does it Grow Slowly or Quickly?
|
Can it Metastasize (Spread)?
|
How Do People Do with Treatment?
|
| Papillary
|
70% of all thyroid cancers
|
Slowly
|
Yes, but not quickly
|
People do well with treatment; patients under 45 rarely die from papillary thyroid cancer
|
| Follicular
|
10-15% of all thyroid cancers
|
Slowly
|
Yes, through the bloodstream and into other organs, like the lungs
|
People do well with treatment; patients under 45 rarely die from follicular thyroid cancer
|
| Medullary
|
4% of all thyroid cancers
|
Usually slowly
|
Yes, early on
|
People do well if the cancer is only in the thyroid gland, but not as well if it has spread to other body parts
|
| Anaplastic
|
2% of all thyroid cancers
|
Quickest of all thyroid cancers
|
Yes, very quickly
|
|
References
- ↑ "Thyroid Cancer". Cleveland Clinic Online, www.my.clevelandclinic.org. Cleveland Clinic. August 20, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
