Thyroid cancer can occur as a belt-like and malignant tumor. Women are more frequently affected by thyroid cancer than men. The disease occurs mainly between the ages of 30 and 60, but is a rather rare cancer.
The therapy of thyroid cancer depends on the aggressiveness of the cancer and initially includes surgery. Subsequently, radiation or radioiodine therapy may be necessary. Chemotherapy has played a rather minor role in the treatment of thyroid cancer so far.
Operation
The goal of surgical removal of the thyroid gland is to remove the tissue affected by the cancer. Depending on the type of thyroid cancer, the operation is more or less extensive. Also important for the surgery is how advanced the cancer is.
For this reason, only one lobe of the thyroid gland may need to be removed if the cancer is very small. If it is suspected that the entire thyroid gland and/or the adjacent lymph nodes are affected, or if the cancer is spreading more widely, the thyroid gland must be removed completely and together with the adjacent lymph nodes (neck area, upper chest). In rare cases, the neighboring organs (esophagus, trachea, blood vessels) are affected and must also be partially removed.
It is extremely important for the healing of thyroid cancer to remove all tumor cells. After the operation, other treatment options, such as radioiodine therapy or radiation therapy, can therefore be important for healing thyroid cancer. As a result of the operation, the body is no longer able to produce thyroid gland hormones on its own. Therefore, these hormones must be taken as tablets for life and the concentrations of the hormones are regularly checked in the blood.
Radioiodine therapy
To cure thyroid cancer of remaining tissue and possible metastases, treatment with radioactive iodine is used, taking advantage of the ability of the thyroid gland, metastases and cancerous tissue to absorb and store iodine. The radioactive iodine is absorbed by the remaining thyroid tissue and then destroys the cancer cells without affecting the other tissues of the body. Radioiodine therapy is not recommended for cancer types (medullary, undifferentiated) that do not store iodine.
Otherwise, the first radioiodine therapy can be started a few weeks after the operation. First, the smallest remnants of the thyroid gland are destroyed, then the radioactive iodine accumulates in the metastases. It is important in radioiodine therapy that no other thyroid hormones are substituted, as this would reduce the absorption of radioactive iodine.