My first surgery was a "pioneering" keyhole partial thyroidectomy to remove only the nodule in case it wasn't cancerous and so that it left a smaller 1" scar. The pathology report showed no evidence of any cancer spread outside the tumor margins. The nodule was so small (1.1 cm) I had no symptoms at all (I couldn't see it and feel it) but was detected by my doctor through a routine physical.
I was referred to one of the world's leading thyroid surgeons who's also involved in thyroid cancer research (he appears in over 200 listings under Google).
The radioactive iodine treatment is also given as a preventative to ensure that no new thyroid cancers (unrelated to the original cancer) can develop because it works to destroy every remaining thyroid cell in the body. Thyroid surgery is quite complicated and has to avoid damaging vocal cords and the parathyroid glands, so generally there will be some thyroid tissue left behind. Hence, I had to have a neck scan (using an injectable tracing agent) after surgery. If no traces of thyroid tissue had shown up on the scan, I may not have needed further treatment. But because they did, I was told that I should have the full-on iodine treatment to ensure a 99.9% cure rate. But that's just my case and I could be hit by by a meteorite a year from now which would make it all superfluous anyway ;).
The other reason this treatment is done is so that follow-up body scans using injected iodine are much more accurate. Iodine is only absorbed by thyroid cells and if nothing detectable shows up on a scan, it means you're completely clear.
PS my aunt who lives overseas had thyroid cancer at 42 and had the same treatments (she's still going strong at 60) so that may be why they thought it best to err on the side of total prevention.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-08-14 10:31 pm (UTC)I was referred to one of the world's leading thyroid surgeons who's also involved in thyroid cancer research (he appears in over 200 listings under Google).
The radioactive iodine treatment is also given as a preventative to ensure that no new thyroid cancers (unrelated to the original cancer) can develop because it works to destroy every remaining thyroid cell in the body. Thyroid surgery is quite complicated and has to avoid damaging vocal cords and the parathyroid glands, so generally there will be some thyroid tissue left behind. Hence, I had to have a neck scan (using an injectable tracing agent) after surgery. If no traces of thyroid tissue had shown up on the scan, I may not have needed further treatment. But because they did, I was told that I should have the full-on iodine treatment to ensure a 99.9% cure rate. But that's just my case and I could be hit by by a meteorite a year from now which would make it all superfluous anyway ;).
The other reason this treatment is done is so that follow-up body scans using injected iodine are much more accurate. Iodine is only absorbed by thyroid cells and if nothing detectable shows up on a scan, it means you're completely clear.
PS my aunt who lives overseas had thyroid cancer at 42 and had the same treatments (she's still going strong at 60) so that may be why they thought it best to err on the side of total prevention.