The prevailing view is that thyroid cancer is a malignant tumor and we need to be alert and take it seriously. In the past 30 years or so, the incidence of thyroid cancer has more than doubled in both China and Europe and the United States, with data showing that the incidence can reach 12.9 cases per 100,000 people per year. The prevalence of thyroid cancer varies geographically, with Finland having the highest prevalence rate worldwide, with a 36% prevalence rate of microscopic papillary thyroid cancer, and coastal residents having a higher prevalence rate than mainland residents. If a patient is unfortunate enough to have thyroid cancer, the patient and his family need to pay attention to the proper choice of thyroid cancer treatment plan. Depending on the patient’s age, gender, pathological type, extent of lesion, metastasis and other factors (especially the pathological type is the most critical), the appropriate thyroid cancer treatment plan may be different. Thyroid cancer is generally classified into differentiated thyroid cancer (including papillary thyroid cancer and follicular thyroid cancer), medullary carcinoma and undifferentiated thyroid cancer; and some rare malignant tumors such as thyroid lymphoma, metastatic thyroid cancer and squamous thyroid cancer. Different pathological types of thyroid cancer have different biological behaviors (local invasion, recurrence, ability of neck and or distant metastasis, etc.), and patients’ survival time and quality of life will be different. Even if the pathological types are consistent, the prognosis of patients is not entirely uniform. Some thyroid cancers may invade the peri-thyroid tissues (neck muscles, trachea, esophagus, larynx, large blood vessels in the neck, etc.), as well as metastasis to the lymph nodes in the neck (lymph nodes in the central region of the neck and lymph nodes in the lateral neck) and or distant metastasis throughout the body. The above factors will lead to a relatively higher chance of local recurrence, local metastasis or distant metastasis of thyroid cancer, thus increasing the difficulty of treatment and even repeated treatment or palliative treatment, which will eventually affect the survival time and quality of life of patients. It has been shown that the biological behavior of papillary thyroid carcinoma is relatively good and patients have the best prognosis, however, a few of them can also turn into undifferentiated carcinoma with extremely high malignancy, and the prognosis of undifferentiated carcinoma is the worst and patients have little hope of cure, and the prognosis of patients with medullary carcinoma is also relatively poor. From the above knowledge, we can better understand that thyroid cancer will affect the survival time (life) of patients and patients need to pay full attention to it. However, patients should not worry too much about thyroid cancer. Current survey shows that thyroid cancer accounts for only 0.5% of the total cancer mortality rate. The incidence of thyroid cancer has increased significantly over the past 30 years or so, but its mortality rate is basically stable (0.5 cases per 100,000 people per year). Possible reasons: More than 90% of thyroid cancers are differentiated thyroid cancers and their treatment prognosis is better. Therefore, most thyroid cancers are less malignant and grow slowly, and even patients can live with the cancer for several years without any symptoms. The overall 10-year survival rate of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer can reach 90%, and the 20-year survival rate of patients in the low-risk group can also reach 90%, while the 20-year survival rate of patients in the high-risk group is relatively low. Even with metastases from other parts of the body, the long-term survival rate of differentiated thyroid cancer is relatively high with standardized treatment. Even if patients are unfortunate to have thyroid cancer, they need to maintain a normal attitude, actively communicate with their specialist and choose a standardized and individualized treatment plan. Surgery is the basic treatment for all types of thyroid cancer except undifferentiated carcinoma, and iodine 131 treatment may be performed after surgery. The specific surgical procedure needs to be decided according to the patient’s age, gender, pathological type, extent of lesions, metastasis and the technical ability of the surgeon. The choice of the initial treatment plan has a greater role in determining the cure of the disease. In addition, if thyroid cancer recurs after treatment, the patient should not be pessimistic, and correct and timely secondary treatment still has a very good effect.