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Head & Neck Oncology Program

Thyroid Cancer

Symptoms and Diagnosis

Symptoms of thyroid cancer may include:

• a lump or swelling in the front of the neck or in other parts of the neck
• pain in the neck
• hoarseness
• trouble swallowing or breathing
• a persistent cough

Although these symptoms do not necessarily mean that a person has thyroid cancer, anyone who experiences them should see a doctor.

If a patient has symptoms of thyroid cancer, the doctor will feel the patient’s thyroid and check for lumps in the neck. He or she may also order blood tests and special scans to see whether a lump in the thyroid is making too many hormones.

The doctor may also want to take a small amount of tissue from the thyroid. This procedure is called a biopsy. The doctor will insert a small needle into the thyroid at the base of the throat and draw out some tissue. The tissue is then looked at under a microscope to see whether it contains cancer.

If medullary thyroid cancer is found, the patient may have been born with a certain abnormal gene which may have led to the cancer. Family members may have also inherited this abnormal gene. Tests can be performed to determine whether individual family members have the genetic defect long before any cancer appears. These tests are confidential and can help the doctor help patients. Family members, including young children, who don’t have cancer but do have this abnormal gene may reduce the chance of developing medullary thyroid cancer by having surgery to safely remove the thyroid gland (thyroidectomy).

The chance of recovery (prognosis) from thyroid cancer depends on the type of thyroid cancer, whether it is just in the thyroid or has spread to other parts of the body (stage), and the patient’s age and overall health. Some types of thyroid cancer grow much faster than others.

This page was last updated on: March 5, 2008.

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