What are the criteria for not having surgery for thyroid cancer

The standard for not doing surgery for thyroid cancer generally refers to whether thyroid cancer requires surgery, which is mainly determined based on the clinical stage, pathological classification, location of the lesion, age, and whether there are obvious symptoms. Patients are advised to actively cooperate with doctors for relevant treatment.

1. Clinical staging: If the patient's condition is in the early stage and there is no distant metastasis, surgery is not necessary. If the patient's condition is in the middle or late stage and there is local metastasis, surgery is required;

2. Pathological classification: Thyroid cancer is mainly divided into papillary thyroid cancer, follicular carcinoma, medullary carcinoma and undifferentiated carcinoma. Most papillary thyroid cancers are well-differentiated thyroid cancers, while follicular carcinoma and medullary carcinoma have a certain degree of malignancy and will metastasize through the lymphatic or blood system. In this case, surgery is required for treatment. If it is undifferentiated cancer, it is more malignant and has a poor prognosis, so surgery is not required;

3. Lesion location: If the patient's lesion is superficial to the thyroid gland, there is no distant metastasis, and the patient does not have symptoms such as difficulty swallowing and breathing, surgery can be performed. If the patient's lesion is deep and has already metastasized to the distant gland, surgery is not recommended;

4. Age: If the patient is over 70 years old, he or she may be unable to tolerate surgery and may choose conservative treatments such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy or targeted therapy;

5. Are there obvious symptoms: If the patient has no distant metastasis, local lymph node metastasis, and has no symptoms such as dysphagia and dyspnea, surgical treatment can be chosen. If the patient has distant metastasis and has symptoms such as weight loss and bone pain, radiotherapy, chemotherapy or targeted therapy is required.

In addition, whether the patient can avoid surgery is also related to factors such as the type and development period of thyroid cancer. It is recommended that patients go to the hospital's thyroid surgery department for treatment in a timely manner and choose a treatment method that is suitable for them under the guidance of a doctor.