Cancer Treatment & Information

What are the symptoms of Thyroid Cancer?

Early thyroid cancer often does not cause symptoms. But as the cancer grows, symptoms may include:

• A lump, or nodule, in the front of the neck near the Adam’s apple;
• Hoarseness or difficulty speaking in a normal voice;
• Swollen lymph nodes, especially in the neck;
• Difficulty swallowing or breathing;
• Pain in the throat or neck.

These symptoms are not sure signs of thyroid cancer. An infection, a benign goiter, or another problem also could cause these symptoms. Anyone with these symptoms should see a doctor as soon as possible. Only a doctor can diagnose and treat the problem.

How is Thyroid Cancer diagnosed?

Although it’s possible that you may see or feel a lump (nodule) in your thyroid yourself — usually just to the lower right or left of your Adam’s apple — it’s more likely that your doctor will discover a lump during a routine medical exam. You’re usually asked to swallow while your doctor examines your thyroid because the thyroid moves up and down during swallowing, making nodules easier to feel.

Sometimes a thyroid nodule is detected as an incidental finding when you have an imaging test to evaluate another condition in your head or neck. Nodules detected this way are usually too small to be found during a physical exam. To aid in diagnosis, you may have one or more of the following tests:

• Ultrasound scan. This imaging technique uses high-frequency sound waves to outline the neck anatomy and detect abnormal growths. While very good at identifying whether a growth or nodule is present, ultrasound scans can’t tell for sure whether it’s malignant or benign. Ultrasound is safe, with virtually no complications associated with its use.
• Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy. This test is generally considered the most sensitive for distinguishing between benign and malignant thyroid nodules. During the procedure, your doctor places a thin needle through your skin and into a nodule and removes a sample of cells. Several passes are usually needed to obtain tissue from different parts of the nodule. If you have more than one nodule, your doctor is likely to take samples from as many as possible. Often, your doctor will use ultrasound to help guide the placement of the needle. The samples are then sent to a laboratory and analyzed under a microscope. Only a small percentage of biopsied nodules are malignant. This diagnosis is based on the characteristics of individual cells and patterns in clusters of cells that are different from normal thyroid tissue. In some cases, a pathologist can determine specific types of cancer from an FNA biopsy sample.
• Blood tests. If your doctor suspects medullary cancer, you may have tests that check for high levels of calcitonin in your blood. Other tests can provide information about the function of your thyroid gland. For example, you may have a test that measures thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), a hormone made by the pituitary gland that regulates thyroid hormones.

Staging tests - If you receive a diagnosis of thyroid cancer, you’re likely to have tests to help determine whether the cancer has spread (metastasized) — a process known as staging. The stage of cancer helps your doctor determine the best course of treatment and the outlook for your recovery. The staging tests you have may vary, depending on the type of thyroid cancer.

Tests such as ultrasonography, computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may help your doctor to see whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes or other areas of your neck. Sometimes you may have an octreotide scan — a test that uses a radioactively tagged hormone to check for the spread of medullary cancer.

Screening tests - If you have medullary cancer, consider having DNA testing, which checks a blood sample for the known genetic defects that cause familial and MEN-associated medullary thyroid cancer. A genetic counselor can help determine what a positive or negative test result may mean for your family.

If you have medullary thyroid cancer but don’t test positive for the RET gene, it’s still important that your close family members have their calcitonin levels tested. This is generally done using a calcium infusion test. Although the calcitonin level of healthy people rises slightly after an injection of calcium, it’s much higher in people with medullary thyroid cancer.

The calcium infusion test usually takes between 15 and 20 minutes and is done on an outpatient basis. You’ll have a small amount of blood drawn before the injection of calcium and again at two, five, 10 and 15 minutes after the injection.

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