In recent years, among the tumors with obvious upward trend in China, women are thyroid cancer and men are prostate cancer. In this regard, Professor Chen Wanqing, director of the Office of Early Diagnosis and Early Treatment of the National Cancer Center, said, "In Zhejiang, Shanghai and other regions, the incidence of thyroid cancer has become the first cancer in women and the fastest-growing malignant tumor."
Thyroid cancer has always been known as the "goodest cancer", but the incidence rate has increased so quickly, it still makes people panic.
Professor Chen Wanqing explained that the increase in the incidence of thyroid cancer is due to the development of our ultrasound technology. clinically, 30% to 68% of people have thyroid problems, and even micro-cancers with strong occultness can occur, so the incidence rate is showing a rapid upward trend.
Why is thyroid cancer called the "goodest cancer"?
The reason why thyroid cancer has the "singular name" of "goodest cancer" is because the treatment of common thyroid cancer is not difficult and the prognosis is very good. Even if lymph node metastasis occurs, the 5-year survival rate after treatment is very high. Therefore, people diagnosed with thyroid cancer do not need to panic too much.
How high is its survival rate? Generally, cancers are calculated based on the 5-year survival rate, but 5 years is too short for most thyroid cancers, so many statistics calculate the survival rate of thyroid cancer based on the 20-year period. statistics show that the 20-year survival rate of thyroid cancer reaches 80-90%.
Of course, the lower the survival rate of all cancers will be after the stage, and thyroid cancer is no exception. If divided by high and low risk staging, the 20-year survival rate of low-risk thyroid cancer will reach about 90%, while the 20-year survival rate of high-risk thyroid cancer will also be 61%.
The American Cancer Center has data to calculate the 5-year survival rate of thyroid cancer in different stages based on the degree of metastasis. Overall, the overall 5-year survival rate of papillary thyroid carcinoma exceeded 98%. Among them, the 5-year survival rate of thyroid cancer without metastasis reached 100%; the 5-year survival rate of local metastasis was 98%; and the 5-year survival rate of distant metastasis was also 78%.
The prognosis of thyroid cancer is very good, and the recurrence rate does not exceed 3%. Among these 3% of patients with relapse, many can still survive for a long time through surgery or iodine 131 treatment.
What are the symptoms of thyroid cancer?
The following are three common symptoms of thyroid cancer:
1. Neck mass: If you find that there is a tumor moving on the neck when swallowing; or you have difficulty swallowing and feel a sense of compression on the neck, beware of the possibility of thyroid cancer and seek medical treatment as soon as possible. Tumors may compress the organs, causing difficulty in breathing, hoarse voices, and a sense of blockage in swallowing.
2. Thyroid nodules , lymph nodes enlarged: thyroid papillary carcinoma is deep, the tumor is small in size, and has almost no symptoms, which is difficult to detect. The only symptom is that thyroid nodules and local lymph nodes may occur. Follicular cell carcinoma also manifests as nodular goiter , which has a very hard texture and can affect the entire thyroid gland.
3. Poor breathing: Sometimes thyroid cancer can invade the trachea, causing poor breathing and snoring while sleeping. When snoring with unknown reasons occurs, you can also consider whether there is a problem with the thyroid gland.
Once thyroid cancer is diagnosed, do I need to undergo surgery immediately?
Thyroid cancer can be divided into papillary carcinoma, follicular carcinoma, medullary carcinoma, and undifferentiated carcinoma. To say that thyroid cancer is a kind cancer, it is just that, as a whole, these different thyroid cancers have different levels of malignancy.
Speaking of surgery, let’s talk about undifferentiated cancer first. This is the most malignant cancer. Undifferentiated thyroid cancer cannot be prevented and distinguished in advance, and it develops very quickly once it appears. Undifferentiated thyroid cancer will cause the patient to experience dyspnea and a large mass in front of the neck. Even if it is discovered in time and the patient fails to perform the examination, the tumor will be enlarged so that the surgery cannot be performed. General cancers can be divided into stages 1 to 4 according to the condition, but undifferentiated cancers are stage 4. No cancer in the world develops so rapidly.
So for undifferentiated thyroid cancer, it is no longer a problem whether to undergo surgery, because there is generally no chance of surgery.
The malignancy of myeloid carcinoma is still moderate. If you are diagnosed with medullary thyroid cancer, surgery may be considered.
As for papillary and follicular cancers of the thyroid, they are cancers with very low malignancy. Among them, papillary thyroid carcinoma is called thyroid microcarcinoma because its tumor diameter generally does not exceed 1 cm. These two types of thyroid cancers can be treated through surgery, but because they develop very slowly, they can also not undergo surgery and just observe and wait. #Qingfeng Plan##Health Science Popularization Qualification##39 Health Super Group#
Reference:
[1] Wu Zhi. "The "Good Legend" of Thyroid Cancer". Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine News. August 30, 2013
[2] "Thyroid Cancer, should I remove it with one size fits? 》. Dahe Daily. December 9, 2019
[3] "In recent years, thyroid cancer has grown rapidly. Experts: There is no need to pay too much attention and panic." Chutian Metropolis Daily. December 15, 2019
[4] "Does micro-thyroid cancer less than 1 cm need surgery? 》. Hangzhou Daily. April 20, 2016
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