Although 25-year-old Xiaoli was diagnosed with a thyroid nodule two years ago, because the nodules were quite small, Xiaoli was afraid that the surgery would leave scars, so she did not undergo surgery immediately, but the doctor said that it was necessary to have regular follow-up examinations.
Then, Xiaoli completely forgot about the follow-up and re-examination. It was not until two years later that Xiaoli came to the hospital for another examination of the thyroid gland, but found that the nodules had deteriorated.
This matter has made many young people worry about themselves. What should we do if we detect thyroid nodules during physical examination?
Today, I will take you to learn about thyroid nodules in a comprehensive way.
1. What is a thyroid nodule?
The thyroid gland is located at the front of the neck, usually below the Adam's apple. A thyroid nodule is one or more lumps that appear in the thyroid gland.
As routine physical examinations are becoming more and more common, it is becoming more and more common for thyroid nodules to be detected. Thyroid nodules can be detected by thyroid color ultrasound. According to data from a physical examination center in Guangdong Province, the incidence of thyroid nodules is about 35% [1].
Most patients with thyroid nodules have no symptoms. A small number of patients may experience pain in the lump, or the lump may compress the trachea or esophagus, causing the position of the esophagus or trachea to shift, resulting in hoarse voice and difficulty swallowing.
The occurrence of thyroid nodules may be related to heredity, gender, diet, age, etc.
Thyroid nodules have obvious family aggregation. If there are elders in the family who have experienced thyroid nodules, the incidence of thyroid nodules in other people will increase.
Women are a very obvious risk factor for the incidence of thyroid nodules. Among adult women in my country, the average incidence of thyroid nodules is about 46.1%, while the average incidence of adult men is only 31.5% [2]. So it is very obvious that the incidence of thyroid nodules in the female group is much higher than that in men, and women should pay more attention to their thyroid health.
Dietary factors mainly refer to the intake of iodine. Excessive or insufficient intake of iodine will increase the risk of thyroid nodules. However, excessive intake of iodine is more likely to lead to the disease of thyroid nodules compared with insufficient intake of iodine.
Age is also a risk factor that increases the risk of thyroid nodules. The older the age, the higher the risk of thyroid nodules. Other risk factors include increased occupational stress, smoking, radiation exposure, obesity, metabolic syndrome, etc.
2. Is the probability of thyroid nodules being malignant?
Although the incidence of thyroid nodules is relatively high, luckily, most thyroid nodules are benign and generally do not have a significant impact on human health. Most benign nodules do not require special treatment without affecting appearance and normal life, but regular observation is necessary, because the situation of each nodule is different from the characteristics of the individual body, and it cannot guarantee that each benign nodule will not deteriorate.
25-year-old Xiaoli did not go to the hospital for regular reviews as per doctor's instructions, so she did not prevent the deterioration of thyroid nodules in time. The incidence rate of malignant nodules is about 5%-15%, and malignant nodules require surgical treatment. The benign and malignant nature of
Nodules have much to do with the size of the nodules. Large nodules can be benign nodules, and small nodules can also be malignant nodules. Therefore, it is meaningless to judge benign and malignant by relying solely on the size of the nodules. The correct operation is to judge the benign and malignant of the nodules through the B-ultrasound examination results.
In addition, how can I be wary of whether the benign nodules have deteriorated? If the nodule increases significantly in a short period of time, or symptoms such as dyspnea, difficulty swallowing and hoarse voice appear, you should go to the hospital in time to check whether the nodule has worsened and avoid delaying the condition.
So, if you find benign thyroid nodules during the physical examination, don’t panic too much. You should maintain a normal mentality, follow the doctor’s instructions to adjust your living habits, and do regular follow-up examinations. Thyroid nodules are not that scary!
[1] Lin Xuan, Lang Jiangming, Wei Aisheng, Wang Jiale. Case-control study on risk factors for thyroid nodules in healthy physical examination populations [J]. Guangdong Medicine, 2018, 39(04):604-607.
[2] Zhao Liufang, Li Xiaojiang, Ren Yanxin, et al. Analysis of the composition of 2539 cases of thyroid disease [J]. China Medical Records, 2012, 13(11):77–79.
