These Are The 4 Types of Thyroid Cancer

Not all thyroid cancers are the same. There are 4 main types, each with different characteristics:

Papillary cancer

This one is the most common and, fortunately, the one with the best prognosis. 8 out of 10 thyroid tumors are papillary.

Papillary tumors grow very slowly and, most of the time, don’t spread anywhere else. In some cases, they can affect lymph nodes and, rarely, other organs.

To treat it we need to remove whole thyroid. If there are lymph nodes or metastases, we can use radioactive iodine.

· Radioactive iodine as a treatment for papillary thyroid cancer

Papillary tumors “look like” normal thyroid cells, so they also take up iodine. After removing the thyroid gland, we can give the patient radioactive iodine, which the malignant cells will “eat”. Once it’s inside the tumor, it will start killing it (it’s radioactive). It’s like using rat poison: they will eat it and die.

Follicular cancer

The second most common: 1 out of 10 cases.

This one also grows slowly, so it has a good prognosis, but slightly worse than papillary. That’s because it sometimes spreads to other organs.

We treat it by removing the thyroid. Moreover, we can treat any remnants with radioactive iodine.

Medullary cancer

Now this one is a little different. On the one side, it’s more aggressive. It can spread and cause metastases.

Also, there is sometimes a genetic factor behind it. Around 20% of cases of medullary thyroid cancer are inherited.

There are certain mutations that can make you more prone to cancer, like “RET gene mutation”. These cases usually come as part of a syndrome, like MEN (multiple endocrine neoplasia).

Also, this one doesn’t grow from normal thyroid cells, but from C cells. Thus, it releases calcitonin and calcium. That’s why you can find high levels of calcium in your blood tests.

Finally, radioactive iodine does no good against this type.

Anaplastic cancer

This one is quite rare (3% of cases) and also the most aggressive. It grows very fast and infiltrates the structures around it, so it becomes very difficult to remove it completely.

Besides, it doesn’t respond to chemotherapy or radio-iodine, so surgery is basically our only weapon against it.