How is thyroid cancer diagnosed?
If you have an enlarged thyroid nodule or any other signs, your healthcare provider could order one or more of these tests:
Blood tests: A thyroid blood test checks hormone levels and establishes whether your thyroid is functioning as it’s supposed to.
Biopsy: during a fine-needle aspiration biopsy, the doctor will remove cells from your thyroid to test for cancer. With the help of a sentinel node biopsy, they can determine if the cancer cells have spread to your lymph nodes. Moreover, they could also use ultrasound technology to guide such biopsy procedures.
Radioiodine scan: This type of test can detect the cancer and establish whether or not it has spread. What happens is that you swallow a pill with a safe amount of radioactive iodine. In a couple of hours, your thyroid gland fully absorbs the iodine. Then, your doctor uses a device to measure the amount of radiation, and where there’s less radioactivity, that’s how they know it will require more testing.
Imaging scans: radioactive iodine scans, computed tomography (CT), and positron emission tomography (PET) scans can easily detect the cancer and where it spread.
