Three major misconceptions about the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer

1. Painless goiter is not a problem. The incidence of thyroid disease has been increasing in recent years. Clinically thyroid tumors are often manifested only as thyroid nodules. Surgery proves that about 80% of single nodules are benign tumors and 20% are malignant tumors. Thyroid tumors, whether benign or malignant, have no special discomfort in the early stage, except for acute thyroiditis, intracapsular hemorrhage of thyroid lumps, and sudden enlargement of thyroid lumps with local pain. Then there is thyroid cancer that develops to a certain extent, and the tumor invades the surrounding tissues, which can lead to discomfort or pain. Therefore, it is wrong to see the doctor again when there is pain, which will delay the best diagnosis and treatment time of the disease. 2.It is safer to do chemotherapy several times more. Cancer is a kind of disease with abnormal cell proliferation and differentiation, and chemotherapy drugs have the effect of “cytotoxicity” and promotion of differentiation, so chemotherapy can kill cancer cells and promote differentiation, thus curing cancer. However, chemotherapy is a double-edged sword. While achieving therapeutic effect, it will also cause serious toxic side effects and damage to the human body; at the same time, chemotherapy will inhibit the immune function of patients, which in turn encourages the growth of cancer cells; multiple chemotherapy sessions and repeated stimulation will exacerbate the resistance of cancer cells and reduce the effect of chemotherapy, and the effect is generally very poor after 6 sessions of chemotherapy. It is for these reasons that chemotherapy has a strict course of treatment and dosage regulations, and one should not increase the dosage without authorization by believing too much in the tumor-suppressing power of chemotherapy. Therefore, chemotherapy is not “more times of chemotherapy more insurance”, we need to scientifically understand and appropriate use of chemotherapy, chemotherapy needs to be taken at the same time with the enhancement of the effectiveness of the drug to reduce the toxicity of chemotherapy, so that chemotherapy better for the patient’s health services. In addition, attention should be paid to recognize the pathological type of thyroid cancer, and differentiated thyroid cancer is not sensitive to radiotherapy treatment, so radiotherapy treatment should not be carried out blindly. 3.After the end of in-hospital treatment, the treatment effect is left to fate. The period after in-hospital clinical treatment is the “high-risk period” of tumor recurrence. The recurrence and metastasis rate of more than 90% within 5 years after radical tumor treatment warns us that we must not relax our vigilance after the end of in-hospital treatment. To judge the advantages and disadvantages of a tumor treatment plan, the 5-year survival rate is generally used (there are also a few 3-year or 10-year survival rate), and if no recurrence or metastasis occurs within 5 years, it can be declared as a clinical cure, and the chances of recurrence and metastasis will be very small in the future. Therefore, the 5 years after the end of in-hospital treatment is called the 5-year risk period, during which it is especially necessary to prevent recurrence and metastasis. In addition, in terms of time, in-hospital treatment takes up less time, while out-of-hospital rehabilitation is much longer. Therefore, the end of in-hospital treatment is only the first step in a long march, and there is still a long way to go. We need to take active measures to rapidly improve the body’s immune function, remove residual cancer cells, and reduce the chances of recurrence and metastasis.