What Is Thyroid Cancer?

There is a gland known as the thyroid gland that is present around your neck on either side of the throat. This is an important gland and a major of the endocrine system of the body that helps in the proper metabolism of the body and helps in the secretion of hormones such as thyroxine and vasopressin that control the level of oxygen in your blood, maintain proper heart rate, body weight, the blood pressure levels, and also provides the body with enough amount of energy and synthesizes heat inside the body to keep the body warm and in optimum temperature. But sometimes the cells of this organ or in its surrounding areas show abnormal division and growth that leads to the development of cancer. This case happens due to improper genetic mutation and recombination inside the thyroid gland which leads to a fatal condition of thyroid cancer. Though thyroid cancer is easily treatable, it should be detected in the early stage to get proper treatment.According to recent studies and experimental research it has been found that thyroid cancer is one of the most commonly developed cancers among cancer patients and this type of cancer can potentially spread from the thyroid gland to the other surrounding regions of the body.

While thyroid cancer can affect anyone, it occurs in women almost three times more than in men. According to recent studies and statistical research it has been found that women are thrice more vulnerable than men to suffer from thyroid cancer; in fact, it has also been proven and statistically found that thyroid cancer is the fifth most common cancer that is found to occur among most people.

Nowadays, recent studies and experimental research are claiming that people who are more exposed to chemicals and harmful radiation, such as X- rays or gamma radiation are at greater risks of developing thyroid cancer than others, particularly teenagers and women of younger age.

Symptoms of Thyroid Cancer

Thyroid cancer, like many other types of cancers, may not show prior symptoms. In fact, in most cases, the symptoms of thyroid cancer resemble those of many other diseases, for which it becomes hard to detect the disease. The symptoms of thyroid cancer vary from one person to the other, yet there are certain common symptoms of thyroid cancer that is necessary to know. Some very common symptoms of thyroid cancer can be listed here as follows:

• Continuous coughing.
• Swelling in the neck.
• Voice changes that don’t go away.
• Breathlessness or problems with breathing.
• Difficulty in chewing and swallowing food.
• Sudden changes in the voice, which might become permanent.
• Mild to severe pain in the neck that might travel into the ears.
• The very first symptom is a development of a lump or tumor in your throat.

Possible Causes of Thyroid Cancer

Two main reasons are responsible for the occurrence of any kind of thyroid-related disease.

• Hyperthyroidism: When the thyroid gland secretes too much thyroxine hormone.
• Hypothyroidism: When the thyroid gland secretes too less amount of the hormone.

The other possible causes might be a lack of iodine, an important element that is important for the healthy functioning of the thyroid gland, irregular lifestyle, and so on.

Types Of Thyroid Cancer

There are several kinds of thyroid cancer, but the ones that are most commonly found are as follows:

Procedures For Diagnosing Thyroid Cancer

Certain techniques and procedures are usually followed by oncologists and health care experts to treat and diagnose thyroid cancer. Some of those procedures are listed below:

• Thyroid scan
• CT and MRI scans
• Thyroid ultrasound
• Thyroid function test
• A fine needle or core biopsy
• Necessary blood tests to check thyroid secretion and thyroid levels

Treatment Procedures for Thyroid Cancer

Many methods are followed for the treatment of thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancer is a type of cancer that can be treated easily. Here are the ways and methods that are usually followed for the treatment of thyroid cancer:

Complications Related to Thyroid Cancer

There can be several types of complications that might occur with the treatment process of thyroid cancer. The oncologist might recommend surgery or removal of the thyroid gland in many severe cases, but those procedures too can bring a lot of complications and side effects along with them. Undergoing radiation therapy or chemotherapy might seem fruitful for treating thyroid cancer but can also lead to several adverse effects, such as hormonal problems, lack of energy, and so on.

There might be a good number of risk factors and complications that might occur from thyroid cancer. Some such risks are as follows:

• Hypocalcemia might occur if the parathyroid glands are infected anyway.
• The voice may become hoarse and change permanently if by any chance the nerves in the vocal cord or the voice box get damaged.

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