Thyroid Cancer Canada just released a very interesting report which summarizes the disease. Here are a few bullet points on the differences with thyroid cancer and other cancers:
- thyroid cancer usually leads to the loss of the thyroid gland -- a major organ of the body -- necessitating life-long hormone replacement and monitoring similar in effect to some chronic diseases
- for the most part there are no early warning signs; no means of prevention of thyroid cancer
- neck exams can find thyroid cancer at an early stage, but currently neck exams are an optional inclusion in most standard physical examinations
- thyroid cancer is now the #1 cancer (in incidence and prevalence) in young women
- wait times for diagnosis and surgery are amongst the longest in the western world
- thyroid cancer has the greatest range of possibilities in prognosis, depending on the type diagnosed
- for some, surgery and treatments have lasting negative after-effects
- 80% of thyroid cancer patients are women
- overall it is very treatable, however males struck with the disease have a lower cure rate
- thyroid cancer is increasing in incidence at a higher rate than any other cancer
- a unique form of treatment -- radioactive iodine therapy -- is an option for the majority of patients
- thyroid cancer has a high rate of recurrence, up to 30 years later
- thyroid cancer patients impacted by low number of resources, and inequitable distribution of tools across the country, including PET scans
- there is a high rate of bankruptcy amongst thyroid cancer survivors
- only 0.1% of cancer research dollars are invested in thyroid cancer
Thyroid cancer is unique in many ways summarized as follows:
| All Cancers | Thyroid Cancer | |
| Treatment | ~60% of cancer patients are treated with radiation therapy such as External Beam radiation (EBR)5 | Less than 3% of thyroid cancer patients have EBR treatment |
| More than 50% of cancer patients receive chemotherapy | Less than 2% of thyroid cancer patients receive chemotherapy | |
| 0% of non-thyroid cancer patients receive RAI treatment | ~60% of thyroid cancer patients receive RAI treatment | |
| Specialized Diagnostic Tools | Thirteen types of cancer have a oncologic indication for PET Scans, internationally | Thyroid cancer is one of only 4 cancers on the PET Registry in ON, yet ON has amongst the lowest number of scans per population |
| Age | 53% are more than 55 years old | Median age is 40 years old |
| Gender | Cancer by gender ratio: women/men - 48/52 | Thyroid cancer gender ratio: women/men - 80/20. Relevant Survival Ratio: 98% survival for women, drops to 94% for men |
| Life Sustaining | It is possible for a person to live with the loss of some organs (due to cancer) and function normally otherwise (ie. not require medication to mitigate the loss) such as with the loss of: one kidney, part of the reproductive organs, part of the liver, part of the intestines, breasts, etc. | The thyroid gland is a major organ of the body. Patients cannot maintain life without a thyroid gland or in its absence, replacement hormone (T4) taken in pill form; with need of frequent monitoring. Therefore, even with a good surgical outcome and excellent prognosis, a thyroid cancer diagnosis is akin to a chronic illness |
Its very different than many other cancers, it is also rapidly increasing in incidence and has the least amount of research. Maybe I should become a lab rat and help them.
