What causes thyroid cancer?
Experts aren’t really sure why some cells are cancerous (malignant), and especially why they attack your thyroid. Some factors, like radiation exposure, a diet low in iodine, and even faulty genes, could ultimately increase the risk.
Other risk factors could include an enlarged thyroid, family history of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer, thyroiditis, and gene mutations that could cause endocrine disease, like the multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A (MEN2A) and type 2B (MEN2B) syndrome, low iodine intake, obesity (high body mass index), radiation therapy for the head and neck, and exposure to radioactive fallout from different nuclear weapons or even a power plant accident.
