Why is the thyroid important?
The thyroid gland is important as it produces hormones that regulate the body’s metabolic rate, development, and growth. It also plays a role in muscle, and digestive function, controlling your heart rate, and brain development. Any changes in the thyroid can make you feel tired, cold and have weight gain if your not producing enough Thyroid stimulating hormones (TSH) or nervous warm or have a racing heart if you produce too much TSH.
Thyroid Nodules & Cancer
Thyroid Nodules & Cancer
Most thyroid nodules are benign but five to ten percent are cancerous. People can develop thyroid nodules at any age but they can occur most commonly in older adults. Fewer than 1 in 10 adults have thyroid nodules that can be felt by a doctor.
Diagnosis
Your doctor will need to determine what type of thyroid nodule you have, which will direct the most appropriate course of treatment. There are many tests your doctor may choose to perform in order to diagnose what type of nodule you have and to rule out cancer.
For those nodules that are large or have suspicious ultrasound features, a Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) biopsy is frequently performed to collect cells for diagnostic cytology. FNA biopsy is a procedure performed by your doctor by inserting a very small needle into your thyroid using ultrasound guidance to collect a small sample of cells from your thyroid nodules.
The FNA biopsy is sent to a doctor called a cytopathologist, who is specially trained to diagnose disease by examining your body’s cells under a microscope. After careful examination of your FNA biopsy material, the cytopathologist will provide a definitive diagnosis of benign or malignant disease in most cases. However, in approximately 20-30% of nodules, the cytopathologist cannot reliably exclude cancer, and such cases are placed in one of the following indeterminate cytology categories: Atypia of undetermined significance/follicular lesion of undetermined significance (AUS/FLUS) (Bethesda III) Follicular or Hürthle cell neoplasm/suspicious for follicular or Hürthle cell neoplasm (FN/SFN) (Bethesda IV) Suspicious for malignant cells (SMC) (Bethesda V) If thyroid nodules are found to be benign, no further treatment is typically required. For nodules found to be malignant on FNA cytology, surgical treatment is typically recommended. However, in those nodules where cytology is indeterminate, clinical management is not clear and most of these patients are offered diagnostic surgery to remove part of their thyroid to establish a correct diagnosis. In most cases (50-85% depending on indeterminate cytology category) these nodules are found benign after surgery. These surgeries would have been avoided if the diagnosis of benign nodules was established from the FNA biopsy using ThyroSeq® V3 test. Find out how ThyroSeq® can help clarify all types of indeterminate cytology, provide an accurate diagnosis, and help avoid worry and unnecessary surgery!