Why does the lump above the incision hurt after thyroid cancer surgery?

Thyroid cancer patients may experience a painful lump above the incision due to incision infection, scar hyperplasia, recurrent laryngeal nerve damage, or lymph node metastasis. Targeted treatment under the guidance of a doctor is recommended.

1. Incision infection: If the patient does not pay attention to incision care after surgery, resulting in incision infection, local tissue congestion and swelling, pain symptoms will occur. You can use iodine tincture disinfectant to disinfect the local area, or you can use amoxicillin capsules, levofloxacin tablets and other drugs for treatment.

2. Scar hyperplasia: If you have a scar-prone constitution, during the wound healing process, excessive proliferation of fibrous tissue will form scars, which will cause pain symptoms. At this time, the hyperplastic tissue can be removed surgically. If the pain symptoms are more obvious, drugs such as ibuprofen sustained-release capsules can also be used to relieve them.

3. Recurrent laryngeal nerve injury: During thyroid cancer surgery, it may be necessary to clean the recurrent laryngeal nerve. If the recurrent laryngeal nerve is damaged during the operation, the patient may experience postoperative hoarseness and coughing when drinking water. This can be treated with recurrent laryngeal nerve repair surgery.

4. Lymph node metastasis: If cancer cells metastasize to lymph nodes after thyroid cancer surgery, causing lymph node enlargement, it may also cause a lump above the incision and accompanied by pain. It is recommended to treat the primary tumor lesion under the guidance of a doctor, and then clear the lymph nodes through surgery.

Patients should go to the hospital's thyroid surgery department in time for complete palpation, blood tests, color Doppler ultrasound, etc. to determine the cause of the disease.