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(Ivanhoe Newswire) – The incidence of thyroid cancer is increasing, but earlier detection might explain some – if not all — of the rise.

Canadian researchers arrived at that conclusion after reviewing data from a large cancer registry in Ontario. They identified 7,422 cases of the disease between 1990 and 2001, with the incidence rate jumping 146 percent over the entire 12 year period. Incidence went up about 13 percent per year.

But much of the increase was attributed to the identification of small tumors that are only being found in recent years because of the growing use of medical technology.

“Our findings suggest that more frequent use of medical imaging has led to an increased detection rate of small, sub clinical tumors, which in turn accounts for the higher incidence of differentiated thyroid carcinoma,” write the authors. “This suggests that we need to re-evaluate our understanding of the trends in thyroid cancer incidence.”

While thyroid cancer remains relatively rare, these findings suggest more should be done to expand medical knowledge of this disease, note fellow investigators in an accompanying commentary. They specifically call for researchers to discover and develop molecular and genetic markers involved in the various subgroups of the condition.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2007;177:1357-1361, 1383-1384

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 at 6:11 pm and is filed under Cancer / Oncology, Diabetes, Medical News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.