The thyroid gland, located at the base of your neck, produces hormones that regulate metabolism, heart rate and body temperature. Risk factors for cancer include exposure to radiation (including previous treatment for head and neck cancers), personal or family history of goiter (enlarged thyroid) and certain inherited genetic syndromes.

Symptoms of thyroid cancer include a lump in the neck, changes to the voice, difficulty swallowing, pain in the neck and throat, and swollen lymph nodes in your neck.

Diagnosis
Physicians use various means to make a diagnosis of thyroid cancer, including a physical exam, blood tests to measure levels of thyroid stimulating hormone, a fine needle biopsy to examine cells in the thyroid and imaging tests such as a thyroid ultrasound.

Treatments
A multi-disciplinary team composed of thyroid surgeons, endocrinologists, radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians convene to provide comprehensive thyroid cancer care. Highly-skilled surgeons at GW Hospital perform procedures that can remove the cancer while preserving a patient’s laryngeal nerves and parathyroid glands.

One of these surgeries for select patients with thyroid nodules is a minimally invasive video-assisted thyroidectomy. This procedure involves using an endoscope to remove all or part of the thyroid. By using an endoscope and other special instruments, surgeons can make smaller incisions.

Get more information on conditions of the thyroid.