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subject: Statistics Indicate Thyroid Cancer Is On The Rise, Is It? [print this page]


Thyroid cancer develops in the thyroid gland located at the base of the neck. This gland's responsibility is to produce hormones to regulate metabolism.

When a fluid-filled nodule develops in the thyroid, the vast majority of these nodules are benign verses cancerous. If as a child you were exposed to radiation or have a relative with history of thyroid cancer, your risk is higher.

A cancerous nodule may be one of three types of cancer of the thyroid: papillary, follicular or mixed papillary. Medullary carcinoma, anaplastic carcinoma, and thyroid lymphoma are the least common of the disease.

Papillary and follicular cancers are usually slow growing remaining asymptomatic for many years. Sometimes the nodule in the gland may grow and cancerous cells can spread to lymph nodes in the neck. Although this disease does not spread quickly, it can metastasize or spread to other organs.

According to the American's National Cancer Institutes' 2010 SEER report, it is estimated that 44,670 (10,740 men and 33,930 women) will be diagnosed with thyroid cancer. They also report 1690 men and women will die of cancer of the thyroid in 2010.

In 2010 Canadian Cancer Statistics Report stated that cancer of the thyroid went up 9.5 per cent in females and 6.8 per cent in men per year since 1998. That means that about 5200 Canadians (4100 women and 1050 men) will be diagnosed with the disease this year.

When we think of cancer, it is usually the most publicized ones: breast, colon, prostate. In 2008, the one cancer that got a lot of attention in the Canadian Cancer Society's statistics report was thyroid cancer. It reported that it was the cancer increasing the most rapidly in Canada.

Similar statistics of increases have been seen in Europe.

Thought has been given that the increase in the cases of thyroid cancer may be due to better diagnostic procedures. Needle biopsies are done after an ultra sound shows suspicious nodules or lymph nodes. CT scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are two more well used procedures today for physicians to determine if the lump in the neck that they detect by feel is in need of treatment.

And for more information on this disease and its treatment either medically or alternatively go to http://www.fucoidanforhealth.com.

After being thyroid cancer "free" for 5 straight years, I had a change of oncologists. Although there was no evidence of cancer he started me with a clean slate and sent me for an ultra sound of my neck. There were two lymph nodes that were suspicious. A needle biopsy was performed and thyroid cancer cells were found supporting the fact that technology may be finding more cases.

by: emsavard




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