I. What is thyroid tumor? There are two types of thyroid tumors, benign and malignant. Benign tumors can be divided into thyroid adenomas and cysts. More than 95% of malignant tumors are primary thyroid cancer, and very few of them may be malignant lymphoma and metastases. It occurs mostly in young people and more in women than men. It is less malignant, grows slowly, and mainly metastasizes to lymph nodes, and has a long survival period and good healing after surgery. It should be detected early and operated early. Another 15% are undifferentiated carcinoma, which mostly occurs in older patients. It is highly malignant and lymphatic and hematologic metastasis can occur in early stage. What are the clinical manifestations of thyroid tumor? Generally, early patients have no symptoms, but large masses may have symptoms of tracheal and esophageal compression, such as poor breathing and difficulty in swallowing. If the laryngeal nerve is invaded, there may be hoarseness. 2. In the early stage, a lump is found in one side of the thyroid gland, and the activity can move up and down with swallowing. The nodule of thyroid gland is hard, and its hardness can exceed that of substantial tumor. Early cancer is difficult to be distinguished from benign tumor clinically, and then develops into enlarged metastasis of cervical lymph nodes; and compression symptoms may appear, and even distant metastasis may occur to bone (flat bone mainly), lung, brain, etc. What tests should be done for thyroid tumor? 1.Symptoms are asymptomatic in the early stage, individual has swallowing discomfort or obstruction feeling. It is mostly seen in middle-aged women. Some patients have sudden enlargement due to tumor bleeding, local distension and pressure pain, and transient hyperthyroidism symptoms. Tumor enlargement may cause symptoms of pressure on adjacent organs and tissues; 2. Physical signs: painless lump in front of the neck. A single round nodule can be palpated in the thyroid gland, or multiple nodules with smooth surface, clear boundary, no adhesion with skin, and moving up and down with swallowing. The texture varies from soft in solid cases to hard in cystic cases; 3. The absorption rate of 131 iodine in thyroid gland is generally normal; 4. Ultrasound examination can identify solid or cystic adenoma. How should thyroid tumors be treated? Since about 10%-15% of thyroid adenomas are pathologically confirmed to be malignant and about 20% may be secondary to hyperthyroidism, early surgical treatment should be performed whenever the diagnosis is confirmed. If malignancy is not ruled out, removal of the adenoma alone is generally not advisable, but a subtotal or total excision of the affected lobe should be performed. The excised specimen should be sent to frozen section for examination to determine whether it is malignant or not, and if it is malignant, it should be treated as thyroid cancer. V. How to prevent thyroid cancer? More than 60% of thyroid cancer are well differentiated papillary carcinoma, which is slow growing and relatively less malignant, therefore, early detection and treatment can lead to long survival and better outcome. Therefore, we should pay attention to single tumor of thyroid in general, especially for pediatric, adolescent and male patients. When thyroid tumors are found, many of them are malignant. It is not advisable to observe more, and while treating with medication, timely surgery should be performed to obtain the best results.