There are four main types of thyroid cancer, including papillary thyroid cancer, follicular cancer, medullary carcinoma, and undifferentiated cancer, of which papillary thyroid cancer is the most common, followed by follicular cancer, with increasing malignancy in that order, and undifferentiated cancer has the worst prognosis. Treatment depends mainly on surgery, and all types except undifferentiated carcinoma are insensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Papillary and follicular thyroid carcinoma should be treated with thyroxine and achieve a state of endocrine suppression after surgery to maintain thyroid function and prevent recurrence.
Iodine therapy is not indicated if the tumor does not invade the thyroid envelope and there are no lymph node metastases; if lymph node involvement or lesions break through the thyroid envelope or if distant metastases are found, iodine therapy is usually recommended to effectively remove residual lesions and metastases, especially in papillary and follicular thyroid cancers. It is also important to note that iodine therapy is usually administered within six months, and that you should stop taking Eugenol for one month before treatment. Because iodine is radioactive, patients need to be isolated during treatment, and within a week after discharge, they should be kept at a proper distance from their families, not closer than 1 meter, especially if there are children at home.