Clinically, after total thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer, most patients can achieve long-term survival or even a normal life expectancy.
Survival time after thyroid cancer surgery mainly depends on the type of pathology. Common pathologic types of thyroid cancer include papillary thyroid cancer, follicular thyroid cancer, medullary thyroid cancer, and undifferentiated thyroid cancer.
The most common type is papillary carcinoma, which accounts for more than 80% of thyroid cancers, and the other common ones are follicular carcinoma and medullary carcinoma, which are inert cancers with low malignancy and slow progression. If the treatment is reasonable, long-term survival can be realized, and most of them can achieve normal life, which is called happy cancer.
Undifferentiated carcinoma in thyroid cancer is more malignant, but the incidence rate is low and only accounts for a small proportion. The treatment effect is poorer and the average survival time is shorter. However, if it can be detected early, diagnosed early and treated early, and the tumors of early stage undifferentiated thyroid cancer patients have not spread and metastasized, they can usually be cured through radical surgical resection, and the 5-year survival rate is around 90%.
Therefore, patients with total resection of thyroid cancer should keep optimistic attitude and actively cooperate with the treatment, and should go to the hospital in time if they have serious or persistent uncomfortable symptoms after the operation.