It is no secret that for many the word “cancer” causes justifiable horror. But only a few are able to correctly evaluate the meaning of this word. The onset of cancer is accompanied by a violation of the behavior of cells that continue to divide, which leads to the growth of a cancerous tumor.
The correct regulation of the work of our entire body largely depends on the endocrine system. With a disease of the endocrine glands, disorders occur in all body systems. If you do not detect and start treatment in a timely manner, you can suffer from severe consequences that can result in disability, and sometimes death. Consider one of the oncological diseases - thyroid cancer.
The disease is diagnosed quite often, it affects more often middle-aged and older women. Recently, there has been a tendency to increase the disease in people of middle and young age. Undoubtedly, the polluted environment plays an important role in this disease, and the reasons can also be hidden in various “chemistry” that comes to us with food. At risk are those who have been exposed to carcinogens and radiation, especially in childhood. Particularly cautious should be people whose close relatives have suffered thyroid cancer.
The consequences of removing a cancerous tumor are not as frightening as you might imagine. Living without a thyroid gland can be quite complete. Patients are prescribed hormones that this organ previously produced (thyroxine), they will have to drink the drug throughout their lives, taking the pill once a day. Doctors strongly recommend that you do not treat yourself - do not use a variety of dietary supplements that "treat all diseases."
Thyroid cancer has four varieties: thyroiditis-like, pseudo-inflammatory, strumoid and latent. There are four types of malignant tumors:
- follicular;
- anaplastic;
- papillary;
- medullary.
The most common follicular and papillary tumors. If the disease is detected in the early stages, then the prognosis is favorable. The most aggressive is medullary thyroid cancer. Metastases in medullary cancer appear at an early stage of the disease.
Most often, the tumor becomes noticeable at the base of the neck, it does not bother and does not hurt. When growing to a large size, it can cause noisy breathing, hoarseness of the voice (if the tumor has affected the recurrent laryngeal nerve that innervates the vocal folds). There are problems with swallowing, as the airways are narrowed.
Cancer can also manifest as hemoptysis and the appearance of seals and nodes in the thyroid gland. The following stages of the disease are observed:
- the tumor is local, does not deform the capsule of the thyroid gland. Metastases are not observed;
- the tumor deforms the gland, the tumor grows, unilateral metastatic lymph nodes appear;
- the tumor is so large that it affects the surrounding tissues and organs, gives metastases.
Thyroid cancer is determined by a blood test, which shows the level of hormones in the gland itself and the hormones that stimulate it. When isotope scanning, the affected areas are determined in the following way - they inject an iodine (radioactive), after the iron absorbs iodine, sections of the surface of the gland are scanned with a special camera. Areas that are not mature enough to absorb iodine are cancerous. Diagnosis can be made using a biopsy, which is carried out through needle aspiration.
If you have discovered thyroid cancer, then there is only one way out - surgical removal of the gland completely to reduce the likelihood of maintaining the focus of the cancerous tumor. The outcome of the operation will depend on the type of tumor, on the proliferation of tumor cells, as well as on the age and gender of the patient. If the tumor is benign or small, it is quite possible to save the organ.