Don’t Judge a Thyroid Tumor by its Size
October 9th, 2007 Posted by: Dr. Cox
By Lindsay Braun, Ivanhoe Men’s health Correspondent
ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Small papillary thyroid tumors are sometimes thought to be a clinically insignificant type of cancer. However, new research suggests these tumors are more common than previously thought, and possibly more aggressive.
A team of researchers led by Haruko Akatsu Kuffner, M.D., assistant professor of medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Pittsburgh, analyzed 13 years worth of thyroid cancer data from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centerâs electronic records.
Of the 1,365 patient cases studied, papillary thyroid cancer was the most common type of thyroid cancer. Researchers found micropapillary thyroid cancer, which are papillary tumors that measure 1 centimeter or less, are more common than they expected, occurring in 45 percent of papillary thyroid cancer patients studied. Data showed that even the smallest tumors were capable of metastasizing, or spreading to other parts of the body.
âWhen we looked at the size distribution in micropapillary cases ⦠It was really skewed to the very small tumors; 3 millimeters, 2 millimeters, and sometimes less than 1 millimeter. Thatâs really tiny,â Dr. Kuffner told Ivanhoe.
The data also showed small papillary thyroid cancer can come back after initial treatment. A surprising amount of patients with micropapillary cancer who were treated with radioactive iodine treatment after surgery required more radioactive iodine treatments up to 60 months after the initial treatment.
The American Thyroid Association published guidelines for treating papillary thyroid cancer last winter. Currently, there are no specific guidelines for treating micropapillary thyroid cancer, and Dr. Kuffner says she believes that needs to change.
âI feel we need to learn more about it since there are more and more patients with these types of cancer. We need to know how aggressively or not aggressively we need to be treating these cancers,â said Dr. Kuffner. âThere isnât much data, but knowing close to half of the patients have small [tumors], we need to have more data or at least some plan to take care of these patients in an optimal plan.â
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SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Haruko Akatsu Kuffner, M.D.; The 78th Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association in New York, N.Y., Oct. 3-7, 2007