Thyroid cancer is the most common malignant tumor in the endocrine system, with no specific symptoms in the early stages. In the late stages, it may show signs of pressure on surrounding tissues and distant metastases, such as shortness of breath due to tracheal pressure and difficulty in swallowing due to esophageal pressure.
There is no specific manifestation of thyroid cancer in the early stages, and it most often presents as a thyroid nodule. Most patients have no obvious clinical symptoms and are only detected unintentionally during physical examination or neck ultrasound, CT, MRI or PET-CT.
As the tumor grows and metastasizes, it may manifest as enlarged lymph nodes in the neck. When the trachea is compressed, patients may experience coughing and shortness of breath, when the recurrent laryngeal nerve is invaded by the tumor, patients may experience hoarseness, and when the esophagus is compressed, they may have difficulty swallowing or pain. In the case of distant metastases, the corresponding organs may be involved. Brain metastases cause headache and vomiting, lung or mediastinal cavity metastases cause cough, hemoptysis and chest discomfort, bone metastases cause pathological fractures causing pain, spinal metastases cause soreness or weakness in the hands and feet, etc.
In addition, the general nutritional status becomes worse, with wasting and anemia becoming more pronounced, and the pain becomes more pronounced.