1. Home
  2. Health
  3. Thyroid Disease

Why Are More People Being Diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer?

By Mary Shomon, About.com

Created: May 11, 2006

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board

May 11 2006
"Thyroid sonography should be performed in all patients with 1 or more suspected thyroid nodules; second, fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) is the procedure of choice for evaluating thyroid nodules; and third, when several nodules larger than 1 to 1.5 cm are present, those with a suspicious sonographic appearance should be biopsied preferentially. Patients with nodules that are 8 to 9 mm in size and that have suspicious ultrasonographic findings, suspicious cervical lymph nodes, or a history of radiation exposure or familial thyroid cancer should be considered for ultrasound-guided FNAB. Smaller nodules most likely can be followed up over several years without FNAB if they are not increasing in size."
FOR MORE INFORMATION

Mary Shomon, About.com's Thyroid Guide since 1997, is a nationally-known patient advocate and best-selling author of 10 books on health, including "The Thyroid Diet: Manage Your Metabolism for Lasting Weight Loss," "Living Well With Hypothyroidism: What Your Doctor Doesn't Tell You...That You Need to Know," "Living Well With Graves' Disease and Hyperthyroidism," "Living Well With Autoimmune Disease," "Living Well With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia," and the "Thyroid Guide to Fertility, Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Success." Click here for more information on Mary Shomon.

SOURCES:

Davies; Louise; Welch, H. Gilbert. " Increasing Incidence of Thyroid Cancer in the United States, 1973-2002," Journal of the American Medical Association . 2006;295:2164-2167. (Vol. 295 No. 18, May 10, 2006 )

Mazzaferri, Ernest MD. "Managing Small Thyroid Cancers," Journal of the American Medical Association . 2006;295:2179-2182. (Vol. 295 No. 18, May 10, 2006)

Explore Thyroid Disease
About.com Special Features

Learn how you can reduce your your numbers with these nutrition and exercise tips. More >

Keep yourself, and your family, happy and healthy this fall with these tips. More >

We comply with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.
  1. Home
  2. Health
  3. Thyroid Disease
  4. Cancer / Goiter / Nodules
  5. Thyroid Cancer
  6. Why Are More People Being Diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer?

©2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.