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Thyroid cancer (cancer of the thyroid gland) comes in four types: papillary, follicular, medullary and anaplastic. Papillary and medullary are slow-growing and occasionally return, but respond well to therapy in patients under middle age.

Medullary also responds well to therapy, if it has not already spread. Anaplastic developes rapidly and responds badly to therapy. The extent of these types of cancer is not uniform throughout the world, but is roughly: 78% for papillary; 17% for follicular; 4% for medullary and 1% for anaplastic.

Usually, the first symptom of a problem is the growth of a nodule or nodules in the neck in close proximity to the thyroid gland. However, only 5% of these are malignant. Sometimes an early warning sign is discomfort or even pain; sometimes, the lymph nodes swell, the voice alters or there is hypo- or hyper- thyroidism.

Diagnosis usually takes place after a nodule is discovered during a (routine) physical examination. The patient is then referred to an endocrinologist or a thyroidologist, who will arrange an ultrasound test or a biopsy. Using a thin needle enough cells can be taken to perform an accurate test on the precise state of the thyroid and whether the nodules are cancerous.

Papillary thyroid cancer more frequently occurs in women and often in the 30-40 year old age group and is frequently characterized by bulging eyes. If the growth is less than 1cm in size a partial thyroidectomy or hemithyroidectomy would probably be recommended.

Greater than 1cm and a full thyroidectomy is favoured. Some surgeons would rather a full thyroidectomy anyway because the cancer cannot come back then.

Follicular thyroid cancer is more common in women over 50 years of age. Therapy is most often full thyroidectomy as the threat of recurrence of this aggressive form is quite big for partial surgery.

Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) starts in the cells that produce the hormone calcitonin. Increased degrees of calcitonin in the blood are a realistic indication of MTC, although these elevated levels of calcitonin are probably not harmful in themselves.

Changes in the DNA concerned in cell growth and development are responsible for nearly all cases of hereditary or familial medullary thyroid carcinoma. Hereditary medullary thyroid cancer is inherited as a 50/50 likelihood from every affected parent. DNA analysis makes it possible to identify children who carry the mutant gene.

Surgical removal of the thyroid in children who carry the mutant gene is effective if the whole thyroid gland is removed at an early age, before there is a spread of the tumor. Hereditary MTC accounts for around 25% of all cases of MTC. The other 75% of cases are known as sporadic MTC and normally occur in older patients.

Frequently the disease is well advanced in these cases as there has been no screening as in hereditary MTC. The first sign is frequently diarhoea. The likelihood of surviving MTC seem to be related to the rate at which the patient?s post operative calcitonin levels double.

Anaplastic thyroid cancer is extremely aggressive and likelihood of survival are virtually nil. It is resilient to all known cancer treatments and invades nearby tissue rapidly.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on quite a few topics, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

Birth control is a large topic, there is no doubt about that and women are more aware than ever that having children is not a compulsory outcome of having sex. They are also aware that having children at the wrong time can ruin their careers and they are also conscious that passions or alcohol get in the way of safe sex using condoms very frequently.

This results in women taking care of the vast majority of birth control by taking ‘the pill’. The contraceptive pill caused an uproar in the Sixties with the Establishment and the Churches predicting the downfall of society and morality. And after a fashion, they were correct. But what happened was to sweep away a lot of social barriers and privileges that previously merely the rich (and men) had had. The ‘old order’ lost a bit of ground.

The problem with the way that women took control of their sex lives was or is twofold: firstly, men leave ‘that type of thing’ to the woman and secondly, taking the pill can lead to cervical cancer. The chances of getting cervical cancer from taking the pill are small (15,000 Americans a year, of which a third dies), but they do exist.

However, there are no recorded cases of men developing cancer from using a condom.

Women usually contract cervical cancer from having sex. They pick up the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Most of the time, the woman’s immune system will prevent that virus from causing cancer, but research has shown that women who take the pill for over five years in a row have a higher risk than women who have not.

Consequently a condom would be useful here.

Regrettably, there are no indications in the early stages of cervical cancer, but later on, there might be heavier losses of blood, pain after sexual intercourse and even unpleasant smells. Periods could also last a great deal longer than ‘usual’.

The difficulty with studies is that, there often comes another study to prove something else and this is true here as well. Some studies have shown that the use of the contraceptive pill lessens the incidence of ovarian cancer.

It is like old sayings, there is always a opposite, as in: ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder’ and ‘Familiarity breeds contempt’.

If you listen to the ‘experts’, you would be in a permanent state of dilemma. Therefore, the only actually safe course to take is to go for regular tests or screenings – at least once a year, unless your doctor or gynecologist tells you different and if he or she does, query it.

The pharmaceutical companies have been promising a male contraceptive pill or implant for decades. In fact, the pill might even be there. But that is not the point usually. The problem is normally men. The majority of men cannot be depended upon to supply sufficient contraception while they are concerned in casual relationships.

As long as this state of affairs continues, women will continue to take risks so that they are not bogged down by a family of 10 kids like their great-grandmothers were.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on quite a few topics, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer