Sunday, September 7, 2014

Thyroid Ultrasound: Always A Great Option

I do a lot of thyroid U/S.  Many people have thyroid issues.  The go to the doctor because of malaise, or feeling tired.  Perhaps they go to the doctor for a check up and the physician feels a lump in the neck.  Many people blame obesity on a thyroid condition.  I will stay away from that.  I do believe that Fine Needle Aspiration with U/S guidance is a great tool in dealing with thyroid conditions.  Personally, if a nodule is heterogeneous, non-compressible, and icky looking, it needs a FNA.  I had a patient last week who tested positive by ultrasound.  She has follicular cancer.  She will be OK  We caught it in time I hope.  Look at the above picture and remember this is a picture of a nasty cancer.

In the retrospective review, researchers evaluated data of 465 patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) who underwent surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center between January 2009 and December 2010. Fifty percent of participants underwent preoperative ultrasound of cervical neck lymph nodes, and 231 were not imaged preoperatively with ultrasound. The median follow-up was 29 months. 

 http://www.healio.com/endocrinology/thyroid/news/online/%7Bb4868556-14b2-4e31-a48a-38169b9ce1f4%7D/preoperative-neck-ultrasound-led-to-better-response-fewer-recurrences-among-dtc-patients

No comments: