How can you treat thyroid cancer?
Treatments mainly depend on the tumor size and whether the cancer has spread or not. Some treatments could include:
Surgery: Surgery is definitely the most common treatment for thyroid cancer. Depending on the tumor’s size and location, a surgeon could successfully remove a part of your thyroid gland or even the entire gland. Then, the surgeon removes any lymph nodes where the cancer cells might have spread.
Radioiodine therapy: With radioiodine therapy, you basically swallow a pill or a liquid with a higher dose of radioactive iodine. It’s the same substance that’s used in a diagnostic radioiodine scan. Radioiodine shrinks and destroys the diseased thyroid gland, along with other cancer cells. This kind of treatment is quite safe, even if it doesn’t sound like it. Then, your thyroid gland absorbs all the radioiodine, and the rest of the body has minimal radiation exposure.
Radiation therapy: Radiation kills cancer cells and stops them from growing. Also, external radiation therapy requires a machine that delivers very strong beams of energy right onto the tumor’s site. Internal radiation therapy might require placing radioactive seeds in or around the tumor.
Chemotherapy: Intravenous and oral chemotherapy drugs kill the cancer cells and stop their growth. Only a few people who are diagnosed with thyroid cancer will ever require chemotherapy.
Hormone therapy: This treatment blocks the release of hormones that could cause cancer to spread or even come back.
