Thyroid Cancer - A Treatable Disease on the Rise

A surgeon with South Nassau Communities Hospital, Dr. Rajiv Datta provides surgical care to patients with thyroid cancer. Informed on the latest advances in surgical oncology, Dr. Rajiv Datta authored "thyroid cancer point-of-care/best practice guidelines” for the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

An MD Anderson Cancerwise article on thyroid cancer discussed how the disease has become more common over the past decade and is particularly on the rise among women. Researchers are not sure why thyroid diseases are more prevalent in women, but the gender difference is not measurable among older adults and those who have not yet experienced puberty. This leads to the conclusion that female hormones may be involved. 

One reason for the increase in thyroid cancer cases is simply better screening methods, with a majority of tumors being less than two centimeters in diameter when first detected. When tumors are discovered early and still small, there is a greater chance of successful treatment. A current trend is to undertake treatment only in those cases that pose a significant threat. With age and overall health factors considered, the risks of treatment may outweigh the potential benefits in the case of extremely small tumors.