Thyroid cancer <br /> <br />
Journal Title: Αρχεία Ελληνικής Ιατρικής - Year 2007, Vol 24, Issue 2
Abstract
Thyroid cancer represents 90% of all malignant tumors of the endocrine system and 0.5% of all deaths from cancer in man. It is common, as in adults at autopsy a 4-36% rate of thyroid cancer has been observed, and in clinical practice a 6-10% rate in nodules. Based on the frequency of nodules in clinical practice, it is estimated that 3.5% of Greek adults (aged older than 18 years) have thyroid cancer and based on autopsy findings 10%. It occurs more frequently in women than in men with a ratio of 2-3/1. The main types of thyroid cancer are papillary and follicular (differentiated), medullary and anaplastic, with frequencies of 70-80%, 15-20%, 5-8%, and 3-5%, respectively. The main causes are genetic mutation, irradiation of the head and neck and iodine deficiency. Diagnosis is based on the history, clinical examination, laboratory and imaging evaluation and mainly on fine-needle aspiration cytology. Treatment for differentiated and medullary carcinomas is total or near total thyroidectomy with excision of infiltrated neck lymph nodes, if any. In differentiated thyroid carcinomas radioactive iodine-131 is administered postsurgically for the destruction of any remnant tissue, while radiotherapy and chemotherapy, as given in medullary carcinomas which do not take up radioactive iodine, has very poor results. In anaplastic carcinomas an effort is made to remove the main part of the tumor for the alleviation of obstructive phenomena, but radiotherapy and chemotherapy have poor results, as the tumors grow very quickly. In all cases thyroxine is administered. The prognosis, except for anaplastic carcinomas, is better than in other types of cancer. The 10-year survival rate in papillary carcinoma is 93%, in follicular 85% and in medullary carcinoma 75%, but in anaplastic carcinoma it is 2-6 months, very rarely extending beyond 1 year. Due to the good prognosis of most cases of thyroid cancer, and despite its high frequency, screening of the general population is not indicated.
Authors and Affiliations
K. NTALLES, I. KOSTOGLOU-ATHANASSIOU
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP83949
- DOI -
- Views 71
- Downloads 0
The effects of exposure of health care professionals to volatile anesthetic gases
One of the exposures of health care professionals that may have serious adverse effects on their health is from the use of volatile anesthetic gases. Exposure to volatile anesthetic gases can be either direct, from the w...
Οικογενής πολυποδίαση. Τι νεότερο στη διάγνωση και τη θεραπεία<br />
Pharmacogenomics and gene therapy in heart failure
Heart failure is one of the most important medical states and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in developed countries. It is not considered to be a disease itself, but the consequence of coexisting factors suc...
Clinical life tables
Prognosis is a qualitative or quantitative prediction of the outcome of an illness. Epidemiological evaluation of prognosis usually focuses on the occurrence of death among newly diagnosed or treated patients. The simpl...
Leishmaniasis: Current aspects on epidemiology, clinical syndromes,<br /> diagnosis, prevention, and treatment
Leishmaniasis is characterized by a variety of clinical syndromes, the most severe being that of visceral leishmaniasis. During recent years an increase of disease incidence has been noted in most endemic areas, includin...