Thyroid Cancer diagnosis has been increasing over the years, however this is largely due to an increase in screening procedures such as thyroid ultrasound.  Fortunately thyroid cancer is rarely deadly and has a survival rate of almost 97%.  An estimated 1,530 in the United States will still suffer from the final consequences of thyroid cancer.  The American Cancer Society estimates 33,550 new thyroid cancer cases in 2007. 

Thyroid cancer devastated the European world with 2000 new cases after the nuclear disaster Chernobyl.  Five million people were exposed to radioactive iodine that is taken up in the thyroid gland.  Poland quickly distributed to children potassium iodide tablets.  These block the uptake of radioactive iodine into the thyroid.  Belarus did not.  The Ukrainian children of Belarus had thyroid cancer at levels 10 times larger than average, and Poland had no significant rise. Potassium pills are now stored for emergency distribution in Britain, but the US is lagging behind even though nuclear plants are thought to be at the top of the al-Queda list.

Ironically, radiation increases the risk for thyroid cancer and is also used as a cure.  With a similar irony - a lack of iodine puts one in a high-risk group because iodine is needed to make the thyroid hormone.  Having a non-cancerous adenoma removed from the thyroid also increases the risk for thyroid cancer, as will having an altered RET gene, which can be detected with a blood test.  Obesity is also sometimes recognized as a factor.  The four types of thyroid cancer are Papillary, Follicular, Medullary and Anaplastic.  They are determined by how the cells look under a microscope.  Most thyroid cancers are discovered by patients discovering an unusual lump in their neck.  Five strands of RNA are enough to distinguish cancerous thyroid tissue from otherwise normal tissue according to the National Academy of Science.

Besides the option of radiation to remove remaining thyroid tissue, treatment for thyroid cancer includes surgically removing the gland in the neck, thyroid hormone therapy, external beam radiation therapy and chemotherapy.  Most treatments include a combination of these methods and are successful in eradicating the cancer.

New drugs are always being researched for the market.  Recently, Axitinib proved to regress the tumor or at least stable the disease in 3 out of 4 patients with advanced thyroid cancer according to the American Society for Clinical Oncology in Chicago.  There is also a new drug associated with rhTSH, which gave patients a reprieve from the weight gain, constipation, fatigue, slowed thinking, depressed mood, muscle cramps, intolerance of cold temperatures and other side effects they experienced after having to stop thyroid hormone replacement therapy due to surgery.  A new blood test measuring the thyroglobulin protein, which is made by thyroid cancer cells, allows early detection of tumors.  For thyroid cancer patients who have had their cancer spread to the bones, an ethanol injection (PEI) through the skin directly into the bone has the potential to kill the thyroid cancer cells.  Research is available at the National Cancer Society, the National Institute of Cancer, and the American Thyroid Association.