Can adults be affected by radiation exposure?
While the adult thyroid gland is much less sensitive to radiation, it too may be affected, especially during radiation therapy for head and neck cancers. Hypothyroidism, thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer all can occur after radiation exposure in adults. How can thyroid problems be detected? Hypothyroidism can be easily detected by a blood test. Patients may or may not have symptoms of an underactive thyroid. Thyroid nodules can either be detected when a physician examines the thyroid gland with his/her fingers, or they can be detected using an ultrasound machine. Once a patient has been found to have a thyroid nodule, a physician will regularly re-examine the patient to see if the nodule has increased in size and/or may perform a fine needle aspiration biopsy of the nodule (see Thyroid Nodule brochure). Thyroid cancer is more frequently found in thyroid nodules when the patient also had radiation exposure during childhood. Thyroid cancer may be found in about 15 – 35% of thyroid nodul
