Patients with hyperthyroidism combined with thyroid cancer also need aggressive surgical treatment and postoperative compliance with follow-up and follow-up. This is the same as for patients without hyperthyroidism.
The special feature is that patients with hyperthyroidism must be treated with medication to keep thyroid function within normal limits before thyroid cancer surgery. Iodine is also used to shrink and harden the thyroid gland for intraoperative management and to prevent thyroid crisis due to surgical irritation. The so-called thyroid crisis, which often occurs in patients with untreated or inadequately treated hyperthyroidism, is stimulated by surgery, infection, and other factors, resulting in sudden onset of hyperthermia, profuse sweating, rapid heartbeat, irritability, nausea and vomiting, and in severe cases, shock and coma.
The main treatment for thyroid cancer is surgical excision, and after total removal of the thyroid gland, hyperthyroidism naturally ceases to exist. For patients with combined hyperthyroidism, doctors will usually do a total resection. If only one side of the thyroid gland is removed, postoperative medication or surgery for hyperthyroidism can be performed as usual. Low serum TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone) levels in patients with hyperthyroidism are helpful in preventing recurrence of nail cancer.
Co-written by Dr. Weibo Xu, Cancer Hospital, Fudan University