What is the gold standard for diagnosing thyroid cancer?

Pathological diagnosis is the gold standard for diagnosing thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancer is a malignant tumor originating from the follicular epithelium of the thyroid gland, which will manifest as a painless neck mass or nodule. When diagnosing thyroid cancer, in addition to pathological diagnosis, a series of examinations are also required to assist in the diagnosis, such as physical examination, laboratory examination, imaging examination, and other examinations. The specific analysis is as follows:

1. Pathological diagnosis: including fine needle fractionated cytology diagnosis and biopsy. Fine needle fractionated cytology diagnosis is currently a commonly used method for evaluating thyroid nodules, especially when ultrasound suspects malignancy, it can be used as a routine preoperative examination. Biopsy requires surgical removal of the thyroid nodule and then examination, which can also clarify whether the nodule is benign or malignant. Pathological diagnosis is the gold standard for judging thyroid cancer.

2. Physical examination: The doctor will conduct a physical examination on the patient through visual inspection and palpation. During the physical examination, the doctor can see thyroid enlargement or nodules, which can move up and down with swallowing at first, but cannot move later. If the patient has cervical lymph node metastasis, cervical lymph node enlargement will be felt.

3. Laboratory tests: including routine laboratory tests, thyroid function tests, thyroid autoantibody tests, tumor marker tests, molecular marker tests, etc., which can help doctors diagnose diseases.

4. Imaging examination: Ultrasound examination is the preferred examination method, which has advantages in early diagnosis and accurate analysis of thyroid cancer, but has limitations in detecting tiny hidden lesions. Therefore, it needs to be combined with other examinations, such as neck X-ray examination, computerized tomography, radionuclide diagnosis, etc.

5. Other examinations: For example, laryngoscopy is required before and during surgery to evaluate the activity of the vocal cords and determine whether recurrent laryngeal nerve damage occurs.

It is recommended that patients with thyroid cancer go to the hospital as soon as possible. The doctor will conduct a detailed examination of the patient and then adopt an appropriate treatment plan.