Thyroid Cancer Flashcards
What are the four most common types of thyroid cancer?
Papillary
Follicular
Medullary
Anaplastic
Differentiated thyroid cancer refers to which two types?
Papillary and follicular
Thyroid cancer is strongly linked to what?
Radiation exposure
What do most thyroid cancer patients present with?
Palpable nodules
How does papillary thyroid cancer spread?
Via lymphatics
What condition is papillary thyroid cancer associated with?
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
How does follicular thyroid cancer spread?
Via blood
How is suspected thyroid cancer investigated?
Fine needle aspiration
How does thyroid cancer get treated generally?
Surgery
What parameters are used to define a patient’s risk?
Age
Metastases
Extent of tumour
Size of tumour
Patients who have had a thyroidectomy then require what treatment post-op?
Whole body iodine scanning
What does thyroid remnant ablation involve?
Giving the patient radiation to destroy any remaining cancer cells
Why is thyroglobulin used as a tumour marker?
As thyroglobulin is produced by cancerous cells
The risk of what is doubled by thyroid remnant ablation?
Acute myeloid leukaemia
What type of drug has newly been approved in differentiated thyroid cancer?
Protein kinase inhibitors
