Thyroid cancer is more common in women than men Thyroid cancer is cancer of the thyroid tissue. Since the Chernobyl nuclear power plant leak in the former Soviet Union in the mid-1980s, thyroid cancer has been the fastest growing solid malignancy in the last 20 years, with an average annual growth rate of 6.2%. Manager Wang of an advertising company had a physical examination and ultrasound found a lump in the thyroid gland, the doctor told him to go to a professional head and neck oncologist. Later, after detailed examination, he was diagnosed with early stage papillary thyroid cancer, which was surgically removed and is now recovering well. Zhao Baiqiu, general surgeon of Shanghai Deji Hospital, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at the end of 2011. In her first public appearance after the diagnosis, Argentina’s beautiful President Cristina expressed her deep gratitude for the support and greetings from all sides and her confidence in overcoming thyroid cancer. Christina underwent surgery and follow-up treatment in January 2012. The latest statistics from the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention show that the incidence rate of thyroid cancer in urban Shanghai in 2008 was 5.83 per 100,000 men and 21.2 per 100,000 women. The incidence rate for women has increased more significantly than before 2008. Currently, the incidence of thyroid cancer in women has jumped to the fifth most common tumor in women. The incidence rate for women is 3 ~ 4 times higher than that of men. Among thyroid cancers, papillary carcinoma is more likely to occur between the ages of 21 and 40. It is usually diagnosed late as it varies from 10 months to 30 years from the time of onset to the time of consultation. For this reason, women should have regular annual ultrasound thyroid examinations for early detection and early treatment. The medical community is still uncertain about the direct cause of thyroid cancer, but it is generally related to the following factors: abnormal iodine intake, genetics, and environment. Iodine and the thyroid gland are very closely related. The thyroid hormone is very important to the human body and its deficiency can cause “cretinism” and incomplete intellectual and physical development. The amount of iodine needed by the average human body is 150-200 micrograms per day. International studies on iodine show that the relationship between iodine intake and thyroid disease is U-shaped, with both high and low iodine intake leading to an increase in thyroid disease. When there is an excess of iodine, the thyroid gland regulates itself to be insensitive to iodine and the excess iodine is excreted in the urine. After a period of time, even if a normal amount of iodine is consumed, the thyroid gland cannot absorb iodine and cannot synthesize thyroid hormones. The thyroid gland then regulates itself to a “hypersensitive” state and becomes hyperfunctional, and after a long period of excitement, the thyroid gland becomes overstretched and swollen. Similarly, when the amount of iodine is not enough, the thyroid gland becomes directly “hypersensitive” and works very hard, making it prone to problems over time. Cancer is simply a mutation of cells in the body, where one’s own people become enemies and fight their own people. There are two aspects to promote cell mutation, internal and external: internal is the inheritance of a bad physique, the cell is unstable by nature and easy to become bad; external is environmental stimulation, external temptation to instigate the cell to become bad and turn against each other. For example, some families, from great-grandfather, grandfather, father to son all suffer from the same kind of cancer, that is heredity; for example, Japan Hiroshima suffered from the atomic bomb, people there have a higher incidence of cancer than any other places in Japan. A person who lives and works under the exposure to radiation for a long time is also prone to thyroid cancer. Lumps in the head and neck are more dangerous without pain Investigation found that many people will have small lumps near the head and neck, but as long as it does not hurt or itch, most people will take medicine on their own to solve it or simply ignore it. However, experts point out that symptomatic lumps in the head and neck should be taken seriously, and asymptomatic lumps should not be taken lightly, as they may be signs of malignant tumors even if they are not painful. Why should painless lumps in the neck attract more attention? This is because painless neck lumps have a higher incidence of tumor, which means the possibility of tumor is higher; on the contrary, the more the neck lumps have some symptoms, the possibility of non-tumor is higher. Many neck tumors are found unintentionally and only manifest clinically as neck lumps without other symptoms, especially in the early stage of tumor discovery. For example, thyroid cancer, thyroid adenoma, malignant lymphoma and various metastatic cancers (such as nasopharyngeal cancer, laryngeal cancer, lung cancer, cervical lymph node metastasis), salivary gland tumors (benign and malignant tumors of parotid gland or submandibular gland), hemangioma, lymphangioleioma, nerve sheath tumor, paraganglioma, etc., which occur in the cervical lymph nodes are mostly without pain, skin redness and swelling and other symptoms. At this time, patients often ignore the possibility of tumors because of the absence of other symptoms, thus causing delay in treatment. Once some malignant tumors lose the opportunity of early diagnosis and treatment, when the disease develops further and then go to the doctor, they are often in advanced stage and it is difficult to obtain satisfactory treatment effect. In addition, some tumor-like lesions in the neck that require surgical treatment, such as parotid cysts and thyroid cysts, are mostly painless lumps in the neck, which are easy to be ignored by patients. In contrast, some lumps in the neck with symptoms such as redness, swelling and pain should be considered more as atopic or non-atopic inflammatory masses such as septic inflammation and lymphatic tuberculosis. Of course, advanced manifestations of some tumors cannot be completely excluded. Ultrasound screening is the preferred method of examination for thyroid cancer because the thyroid gland is located under the skin of the neck and once enlarged it is easily detected and palpable. Although it has been continuously recognized and deepened for thousands of years in human history, in the past, the diagnosis of thyroid disease relied only on the physician’s manual touch because it was affected by many factors such as the location and size of the nodule in the thyroid gland, the thickness of the patient’s neck, obesity and the experience of the examiner, etc. The true The chances of finding and detecting thyroid lesions were not high. It was not until the advent of ultrasound and color ultrasound technology in the late 1980s that the diagnosis of thyroid disease was revolutionized. Nodules under 1 cm that were previously untouchable and changes in blood flow around the thyroid gland are clearly visible. In particular, the high-frequency ultrasound technology of the thyroid gland, which has been adopted in recent years, can not only clearly display the anatomical structure of the thyroid gland, hemodynamics, microcirculatory perfusion and other manifestations, but also detect tiny nodules of 2 to 3 mm, and at the same time can accurately distinguish between glial retention and substantial masses of the thyroid gland, as well as determine whether necrosis has occurred in substantial masses, and a great deal of other valuable information. Data show that in 1996, over 90% of thyroid cancer patients were seen for neck masses, and only 3% were detected by ultrasound screening. In contrast, in 2006, about 60% of thyroid cancer patients were seen for neck lumps and 30% were detected by ultrasound screening. This indicates that ultrasound screening has played an important role in the diagnosis of primary thyroid cancer. Prof. Wu Yi said that clinical data from cancer hospitals over the years show that the accuracy rate of ultrasound screening is close to 90%, and the smallest thyroid cancer found is only 0.2 cm in diameter. And it is especially effective in detecting early thyroid cancer: in 2006, 185 cases of thyroid cancer without any other clinical status signs were detected by ultrasound screening, accounting for 32% of all first cases. Is iodized salt a merit or a demerit for the thyroid gland “Do we still need to eat iodized salt?” In the past year, there have been reports of “iodized salt increasing thyroid disease”, which has caused many people to have concerns about iodized salt, and many people are worried that iodized salt increases the risk of thyroid tumors. In fact, the intake of iodine should be individualized and reasonable. Normal people should also avoid the extremes of not consuming iodine at all and consuming large amounts of iodine. What is the role of iodine in the human body? Iodine is the raw material for thyroxine. Lack of iodine can cause low thyroxine and turn into hypothyroidism. Patients with hypothyroidism can cause low basal metabolism in the human body, making the body feel weak and cold, and in severe cases, mucinous edema can occur, and fetuses, infants and adolescents can produce brain development retardation. Therefore, iodine is an indispensable nutrient for the human body. However, excessive iodine intake does increase the risk of hyperthyroidism. Therefore, iodine should neither be consumed too little nor too much. It has been reported in the United States that the western part of the United States was originally iodine deficient in the last century, and at that time, 20% of thyroid cancer in the United States was hypofractionated cancer, which is one of the most malignant tumors in human beings, and almost no one could live longer than one year after being detected. After the 1930s, when iodine was added to salt in the United States, the incidence of undifferentiated thyroid cancer gradually decreased to 1%, while the incidence of papillary thyroid cancer increased, but we all know that most papillary cancers can be cured with timely and standardized treatment. In this case, we can see that iodine has both merits and demerits, and we cannot simply say that it is good or bad. Whether the amount of iodine is related to the development of thyroid tumors needs to be further investigated. Therefore, it is not a bad thing to add iodine to salt, and whether or not to choose iodized salt should be entirely based on oneself. It is recommended that for people who are already suffering from hyperthyroidism, they should eat non-iodized salt, while for normal people who do not have hyperthyroidism, they should not reject iodized salt. Theoretically, to see if one’s intake of iodine is more or less, one should check the urinary iodine. Generally speaking a person’s intake of 150 micrograms of iodine a day is enough, and more than 300 micrograms is too much. For the people, whether to choose iodized salt or not, you can refer to two of these situations to choose: 1. people in coastal areas, who usually consume more iodine-rich foods such as seafood and nori, can choose non-iodized salt; 2. people with hyperthyroidism should choose non-iodized salt. Get out of three misunderstandings of thyroid cancer treatment Misconception 1: Believe that drugs can completely cure thyroid tumor. From the current medical condition, there is no certain type or class of drugs that can cure thyroid tumor. Clinically, except for a few nodular goiter patients who have been fully diagnosed and have the condition of close follow-up, they can be treated with thyroxine preparations on a trial basis, but the rest are indications for surgical treatment, which means that surgery is the only way to cure thyroid tumor. In other words, surgery is the only way to cure thyroid tumor. If you blindly follow the advice of non-professional doctors or believe in some so-called “special prescriptions” to carry out medication, you will only return without success and even cause delay. Misconception two: avoiding the disease and fearing surgery. After hundreds of years of research and development, the surgical technique of thyroid tumor surgery has become a successful model of surgical treatment. Its operation technique is standardized, and under modern anesthesia conditions, the pain is mild, and has the advantages of excellent efficacy and few complications, which can completely eliminate the fear of surgery. Myth 3: Thyroid cancer is a malignant disease and cannot be cured. Except for undifferentiated thyroid cancer, which is rare (accounting for only 5%-10% of all thyroid cancers) and occurs mostly in the elderly, differentiated thyroid cancers (including papillary, follicular and medullary cancers) have a good chance of being cured. Among differentiated thyroid cancers, papillary carcinoma is the most common, accounting for about 75% of all thyroid cancers, follicular carcinoma is the second most common, and medullary carcinoma is the least common; papillary carcinoma is mostly seen in young and middle-aged women, and the disease develops slowly. Follicular carcinoma and medullary carcinoma can have a cure rate of more than 70% if they are treated in the early stage of the disease.