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What are the treatments for thyroid cancer?

April 26, 2017cancer Thyroid treatments

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What are the treatments for thyroid cancer?

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The treatment of thyroid cancer can involve an approach combining surgery, radioactive iodine and radiation therapy, depending on the stage and type of thyroid cancer. Surgery always plays the central role, with the removal of the cancer being key. Usually the surgical procedure is a total thyroidectomy (the removal of the entire thyroid gland) or a near total thryroidectomy (leaving only a small remnant of thyroid tissue with parathyroid glands, which are attached to the thyroid). These more extensive surgical procedures have been shown to be more efficacious than more conservative surgeries, such as the removal of a single lobe of the thyroid gland (lobectomy). An exception to this philosophy can be in patients with small, Stage I papillary thyroid cancers, where a lobectomy may be appropriate. However, if the thyroid gland is not completely removed at the first surgical procedure, the patient is always at risk for recurrence in the portion of the thyroid left behind. Secondary opera