Thyroid Carcinoma
About 70 to 85% of all thyroid cancers diagnosed in the United States are papillary carcinoma are more common in women than in men. It can occur in childhood, but is typically seen in people aged 20 to 40 years. Its cause is unknown. A genetic defect may be involved. Exposure to external radiation in the neck at high doses increases the risk of developing this cancer. This papillary thyroid cancer in children has been linked to atomic bomb tests conducted in the Marshall Islands and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine in 1986. Radiation given through a vein (intravenously) during examinations and treatments does NOT increase the risk of developing thyroid cancer.
Symptoms
Thyroid cancer usually begins as a small bump (nodule) in the thyroid gland, which is located at the front of the neck. However, it should be emphasized that most thyroid bumps are harmless and noncancerous (benign).
Signs and tests
If you have a lump in your thyroid, your doctor will order blood tests and an ultrasound of the gland.
If the ultrasound shows that tumor size is greater than 1.0 cm, will be a special biopsy called fine needle aspiration (FNA, for its acronym in English), with which it is determined whether the tumor is cancerous or benign ( non-cancerous).
The thyroid function tests are usually normal in patients with thyroid cancer.