General overview of thyroid cancer

Nowadays, many people attach great importance to health issues. As the pace of social life accelerates, more and more people live irregular lives, so they will suffer from various diseases, such as thyroid cancer, which is a very serious one. Next, I will give you a general overview of thyroid cancer.

When there is a problem with the thyroid gland, thyroid nodules will appear. According to official statistics, the prevalence of thyroid nodules is as high as 18.6%, which means that nearly 1 in 5 people have thyroid nodules, and about 1/3 of patients with thyroid nodules need surgery. In recent years, thyroid diseases have a clear trend of becoming younger, and clinical observations have found that the incidence of thyroid cancer is also increasing year by year. It is currently the fastest-growing malignant tumor and has become an invisible killer that endangers health.

How can we detect the crisis lurking in the neck at an early stage? Clinically, thyroid cancer usually has no symptoms in the early stage, which gives these latent cancer cells a chance to "get away with it" and also makes it extremely difficult to find these "enemy agents" in time. However, we can still find some "clues" to confirm their existence and then eliminate them in the bud.

First, we can learn a set of self-examination methods: First, look: look in the mirror, stretch your neck, swallow your saliva, and see if there is any mass moving up and down with the swallowing action. Second, touch: place the thumb of your right hand on the right side of the trachea below the Adam's apple, and touch the left side of the trachea with the other fingers. When swallowing, feel if there is any mass sliding under your fingers. Similarly, use your left hand to check the right side of the trachea.

If you find a lump after self-examination, or you have a history of neck radiation exposure or treatment, or a family history of thyroid disease, or have recently experienced voice changes, difficulty breathing and swallowing, or an irritating cough; you need to go to the thyroid specialist department of a large hospital for a detailed examination, including neck palpation, neck color ultrasound and thyroid function tests; if the color ultrasound shows that there are nodules in the thyroid gland, and the nodules have one or more of the following characteristics, such as abnormal blood flow, calcification, uneven texture, unclear boundaries, irregular shape, and enlarged lymph nodes, you should be alert to the occurrence of thyroid cancer; if necessary, a small amount of suspicious cell samples can be extracted with a fine needle for testing, which can preliminarily determine whether cancer has occurred.

When you find a thyroid nodule, and the nodule has a tendency or possibility of becoming cancerous, you should receive surgical treatment at an early stage. If early thyroid cancer is treated promptly and reasonably, it can provide a longer survival period, and even "recover" to normal after surgery. However, if early cancer is delayed to late stage cancer, the effect of surgery will be much worse, and the survival period after surgery will be greatly reduced.

In short, thyroid cancer is a treatable malignant tumor. In fact, it is not terrible. What is terrible is that it is discovered late. The earlier it is discovered and the earlier it is treated, the better the effect will be. Therefore, we need to raise awareness, discover and deal with it correctly in time, and rationally resolve the crisis in the neck.