What is the prognosis of unilateral resection of thyroid cancer?

Thyroid cancer is a common endocrine tumor in clinical practice. If unilateral resection is performed, the prognosis is usually good, but the specific prognosis is related to factors such as the pathological type of thyroid cancer, surgical techniques, age, and postoperative treatment. It cannot be generalized.

1. Pathological type: Common types include papillary thyroid cancer, follicular thyroid cancer, medullary thyroid cancer and anaplastic thyroid cancer. Generally speaking, patients with papillary thyroid cancer and follicular thyroid cancer have a good prognosis after surgical resection, while patients with medullary thyroid cancer and anaplastic thyroid cancer have a poor prognosis due to the possibility of distant metastasis and high degree of malignancy.

2. Surgical skills: Surgery is an important factor affecting the prognosis of thyroid cancer patients. If no lymph node metastasis, adjacent organ involvement and disease are found during surgery, the tumor diameter is >4cm, the recurrent laryngeal nerve or trachea is invaded by the thyroid gland, and the thyroid bed is severely damaged during surgery, the prognosis of thyroid cancer patients will be affected.

3. Age: Since female patients are older and their physical functions gradually decline, while male patients are older and their physical functions are relatively strong, age is also one of the important factors affecting the prognosis of thyroid cancer patients;

4. Postoperative treatment: If the patient actively cooperates with postoperative iodine-131 treatment, thyroid-stimulating hormone suppression therapy or takes levothyroxine sodium tablets for about 6 months after the operation, and there are no surgical complications, distant metastasis, etc., it may also improve the prognosis of thyroid cancer patients.

In addition to the above factors, the patient's compliance also has a certain impact on the prognosis of thyroid cancer patients. Therefore, after surgical treatment, it is recommended that patients undergo long-term follow-up examinations.