Thyroid Cancer Metastasis Treatments: Understanding Your Options

Papillary or follicular thyroid cancers (the most common) are highly treatable and usually curable, according to the National Cancer Institute. Other forms of thyroid cancer tend to metastasize earlier and call for aggressive treatment

Identification

• Metastasis is the spread of cancer to other areas of the body. While this is uncommon, the lymph nodes, lungs and bones are most frequently affected by the metastasis of thyroid carcinoma.

Surgery

• Surgery is the most frequently utilized of all the treatments for metastasis of thyroid cancer. In some instances, only the portion of the thyroid where the tumor resides will be removed. In other cases, an extraction of the entire thyroid gland (thyroidectomy) may be called for.

Treatment

• Radioactive iodine therapy consists of the oral consumption of radioactive iodine designed to kill cancerous thyroid cells that have spread elsewhere in the body.

Medication

• The thyroid hormone replacement drug levothyroxine regulates the prevention of hormones that otherwise may once again encourage the growth and metastasis of thyroid cancer. This medication is a lifetime necessity for those who have undergone thyroidectomy.

New Technology

• Alcohol ablation is a new technique aimed at recurring thyroid cancers. "The advantage of this treatment over other therapies is that it does not require surgery and is effective for tumors that cannot be treated with radioactive iodine," says the Mayo Clinic.