Thyroid
Thyroid cancer is a growth of cells that starts in the thyroid. The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland located at the base of the neck, just below the Adam’s apple. The thyroid produces hormones that regulate heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and weight.
Thyroid cancer might not cause any symptoms at first. But as it grows, it can cause signs and symptoms, such as swelling in your neck, voice changes and difficulty swallowing.
Several types of thyroid cancer exist. Most types grow slowly, though some types can be very aggressive. Most thyroid cancers can be cured with treatment.
Thyroid cancer rates seem to be increasing. The increase may be caused by improved imaging technology that allows health care providers to find small thyroid cancers on CT and MRI scans done for other conditions (incidental thyroid cancers). Thyroid cancers found in this way are usually small cancers that respond well to treatments.
Symptoms
Most thyroid cancers don’t cause any signs or symptoms early in the disease. As thyroid cancer grows, it may cause:
Services Outcome
- A lump (nodule) that can be felt through the skin on your neck
- A feeling that close-fitting shirt collars are becoming too tight
- Changes to your voice, including increasing hoarseness
- Difficulty swallowing
- Swollen lymph nodes in your neck
- Pain in your neck and throat
Causes
Thyroid cancer happens when cells in the thyroid develop changes in their DNA. A cell’s DNA contains the instructions that tell the cell what to do. The changes, which doctors call mutations, tell the cells to grow and multiply rapidly. The cells go on living when healthy cells would naturally die. The accumulating cells form a mass called a tumor.
The tumor can grow to invade nearby tissue and can spread (metastasize) to the lymph nodes in the neck. Sometimes the cancer cells can spread beyond the neck to the lungs, bones and other parts of the body.
For most thyroid cancers, it’s not clear what causes the DNA changes that cause the cancer.