The ABCs of thyroid cancer: Risks, symptoms and when to get tested

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  • Kristi Powers
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One patient described a busy life - going through a divorce, moving into a new house, starting a new job, and raising a teenager. Sound familiar?

Despite her chaotic situation, she booked and kept her routine doctor’s visit, a testament to how important these exams can be, and it saved her life. At 48 she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

Doctor feeling the neck of a woman to check her thyroid.
Dr. Smith says the most common thyroid cancer symptom is a lump in the lower neck.

According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 44,020 new cases of thyroid cancer are expected in the United States in 2024. There are various types of thyroid cancer, and the difference is based upon which cell within the thyroid gland becomes cancerous.

Dr. Russell Smith, is an otolaryngology surgeon and the director of thyroid and parathyroid surgery at the AdventHealth Cancer Institute, explains to The Healthy, a Reader’s Digest publication, “The most common thyroid cancers develop from the follicular cells of the thyroid gland. These cancers are called ‘well-differentiated thyroid cancers.’”

Smith adds most people do not have an identifiable risk factor for developing thyroid cancer – like genetics. He says exposure to ionizing radiation is one known risk.

To make this type of cancer even more difficult to diagnose, there aren’t many symptoms. Typically, the most common thyroid cancer symptom is a lump in the lower neck, just above where your collarbones meet, which is where the small, butterfly-shaped gland sits.

Dr. Russell Smith is an otolaryngology surgeon and the director of thyroid and parathyroid surgery at the AdventHealth Cancer Institut
Dr. Russell Smith is an otolaryngology surgeon and the director of thyroid and parathyroid surgery at the AdventHealth Cancer Institute.

“As thyroid cancer progresses, other symptoms can occur,” Smith explains. Symptoms may include:

  • New lumps on the sides of the neck
  • Hoarseness
  • Trouble swallowing
  • Breathing difficulties
  • Coughing up blood (hemoptysis)

Age may be a factor in how long someone can live with thyroid cancer, said Smith.

“These cancers (well-differentiated thyroid cancers) have a great response to treatment and have a very high survival that is over 95%,” Smith told The Healthy. However, in older patients or those with more advanced disease, this type of cancer can become quite aggressive, and survival rates may fall to around 50% to 60%.

The AdventHealth Head and Neck program in Orlando is recognized by U.S News & World Report as the only nationally ranked for Ear, Nose and Throat care in Greater Orlando.

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