How many years can a thyroid cancer patient live without surgery

Without surgery, patients with thyroid cancer may live 5-10 years, which is closely related to the pathological classification, clinical stage, and treatment effect of thyroid cancer. If thyroid cancer is found, it is recommended to undergo surgery as soon as possible. Surgery to remove the lesion can effectively prolong the patient's survival time.

1. Pathological classification: Thyroid cancer can be divided into papillary thyroid cancer, follicular thyroid cancer, medullary thyroid cancer and anaplastic cancer, among which papillary thyroid cancer is the most common. Papillary thyroid cancer is the most common thyroid cancer, with low malignancy and the best prognosis among all cancers. Follicular carcinoma and medullary thyroid cancer are two types of thyroid cancer with moderate malignancy and poor prognosis, and the patient's survival time is about 5 years. Anaplastic cancer is the worst in malignancy, and the patient's survival time is usually less than 5 years;

2. Clinical staging: Patients with early thyroid cancer may not have obvious clinical symptoms. When the tumor grows to a certain extent, it may compress or invade adjacent organs or tissues, causing symptoms such as dysphagia, hoarseness, and dyspnea. Early thyroid cancer is difficult to cure without surgery, and only 10%-20% of patients can live for 5 years, or even shorter.

3. Treatment effect: For patients with thyroid cancer who do not undergo surgery, the treatment effect is closely related to tumor stage, treatment sensitivity, age, and underlying diseases. The earlier the treatment, the better the effect and the longer the survival time. However, the 5-year survival rate of patients with advanced thyroid cancer who do not undergo surgery is usually less than 30%;

4. Other situations: For anaplastic thyroid cancer, due to its high malignancy, even in the early stage, only surgical resection can be performed, so the prognosis of such patients is poor, and most of them die within 3-6 months. For other types of thyroid cancer, such as medullary cancer, anaplastic cancer and other thyroid cancers with lower malignancy, the prognosis is also good after systemic treatment, and most patients can live for 5 years or even longer.