Symptoms of Thyroid Cancer
Thyroid cancer can cause any of the following signs or symptoms:
- A lump in the neck, sometimes growing quickly
- Swelling in the neck
- Pain in the front of the neck, sometimes going up to the ears
- Hoarseness or other voice changes that do not go away
- Trouble swallowing
- Trouble breathing
- A constant cough that is not due to a cold
If you have any of these signs or symptoms, talk to your doctor right away. Many of these symptoms can also be caused by non-cancerous conditions or even other cancers of the neck area. Lumps in the thyroid are common and are usually benign. Still, if you have any of these symptoms, it’s important to see your doctor right away so the cause can be found and treated, if needed.
Diagnosing Thyroid Cancer
Tests and procedures used to diagnose thyroid cancer include:
Physical exam. Your doctor will look for physical changes in your thyroid and ask about your risk factors, such as excessive exposure to radiation and a family history of thyroid tumors.
Blood tests. Blood tests help determine if the thyroid gland is functioning normally.
Removing a sample of thyroid tissue. During a fine-needle biopsy, your doctor inserts a long, thin needle into the thyroid nodule. Ultrasound imaging is typically used to precisely guide the needle into the nodule. The sample is analyzed in the laboratory to look for cancer cells.
Imaging tests. Imaging tests (include computerized tomography (CT) scans, positron emission tomography (PET) or ultrasound) are used to determine whether your cancer has spread beyond the thyroid.
Radioiodine scans. This scan can be used to help determine if someone with a lump in the neck might have thyroid cancer. They are also often used in people who have already been diagnosed with differentiated (papillary, follicular, or Hürthle cell) thyroid cancer to help show if it has spread. Because medullary thyroid cancer cells do not absorb iodine, radioiodine scans are not used for this cancer.
References
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/thyroid-cancer/basics/tests-diagnosis/con-20043551
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/thyroid-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/signs-symptoms.html
