Dr. Vo Tran Nguyen Duy, Department of Endocrinology – Diabetes, Tam Anh General Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, said the incidence of malignant goiter is not high.
Stages of malignant goiter
In the early stages: Malignant goiter does not cause symptoms but is only discovered through ultrasound examination or by chance during CT, MRI, or PET scans of the neck for other diseases.
Late-stage thyroid cancer: A condition in which the tumor has spread to soft tissue in the neck, lymph nodes and metastasized to the brain, lungs, heart, liver, and bones.
Cancer classification
Through examination, ultrasound, blood tests, cell aspiration… the Endocrinologist – Diabetic doctor in collaboration with the Oncologist will determine the type of cancer.
Differentiated thyroid cancer: Includes types of thyroid cancer that begin in the cells that produce and store thyroid hormones.
Papillary thyroid cancer: The most common type of thyroid cancer, occurring at all ages, most commonly in people 30-50 years old.
Ultrasound is a common means of diagnosing goiter.
Follicular thyroid cancer: A rare type of thyroid cancer that usually affects people over 50 years old.
Hurthle cell thyroid cancer: A rare type of thyroid cancer.
Poorly differentiated thyroid cancer: This rare type of thyroid cancer is more aggressive than other types of differentiated thyroid cancer and often does not respond to conventional treatments.
Non-proliferative thyroid cancer: The disease causes many serious signs and symptoms such as neck swelling, difficulty breathing, and difficulty swallowing.
Prevent
Doctor Nguyen Duy added that goiter in general and malignant goiter in particular are influenced by factors such as geographical region, gender, and genetics.
Gender: Thyroid cancer occurs more often in women than in men, possibly because it is related to the hormone estrogen (sex hormone produced by the ovaries).
Exposure to high levels of radiation: Radiation treatments to the head and neck area increase the risk of thyroid cancer.
Some genetic syndromes: Cowden syndrome, adenomatous polyposis… increase the risk of thyroid cancer.
The increasing number of people with thyroid cancer being detected is partly due to advances in medicine, with modern diagnostic methods helping doctors detect the disease quickly.
According to Globocan statistics, thyroid cancer ranks 9th among the most common cancers in Vietnam with more than 5,400 new cases in 2020.
